Chrissy Teigen still unreformed; cyberbullying and stealing ideas

[Anonymous]

I will never ever not be gleeful about her downfall because of what she did to Alison Roman.

[Anonymous]

I looked at the boxes and the timeline.

Whether or not this is an IP violation, it seems abundantly clear that Chrissy Teigan ripped off the design of the boxes and possibly the concept itself.

[Anonymous]

The Baker accuses Teigen of taking inspiration from her line. She says she only learned that Teigen would be launching her own brand halfway through their collaboration. Is that considered stealing? I don't know. I do think that at the least she is creating brand confusion; the boxing looks very similar to me. Not sure if this would hold up in court.

[Anonymous]

I'm a lawyer and am really unsure of the legal merits of this case. I'd have to look much more closely not only at both packages but also at the universe of packaging in this market sector. Plus I'd want to know if the Caker had registered their packaging as trade dress in the US (which they might not have since they only recently moved to the US).

But from a non-legal standpoint, it seems obvious to me that if you want to maintain good working relationships with people, you should disclose to them that you are going to be launching a similar product to theirs before doing a collaboration, and you should make some effort not to avoid copying their product. I mean, if you don't care about good working relationships, do what you want and hire good lawyers. But while Teigen likely has a strong legal defense here, I also think the problem is that she behaved kind of shadily. Even if it turns out that most of the decisions were made by her team. It's HER team and its her name on the products.

I encounter this a lot. The best way to avoid getting sued is by not pissing people off, and you can do that while still pursuing your business objectives. What happens is people get lazy and sloppy, they assume everyone they encounter ice just a tool to be used in pursuing their own goals, and they make dumb mistakes that will cost them in good will and sometimes also in real money.

When you see someone who is perpetually the subject of controversy around their personal behavior or business practices, there's usually a reason for that. People who behave ethically and treat others well might get unlucky with the random vicious person who is out to get them or is jealous of their success. But if you are constantly the subject of controversy for your behavior, the problem is you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and am really unsure of the legal merits of this case. I'd have to look much more closely not only at both packages but also at the universe of packaging in this market sector. Plus I'd want to know if the Caker had registered their packaging as trade dress in the US (which they might not have since they only recently moved to the US).

But from a non-legal standpoint, it seems obvious to me that if you want to maintain good working relationships with people, you should disclose to them that you are going to be launching a similar product to theirs before doing a collaboration, and you should make some effort not to avoid copying their product. I mean, if you don't care about good working relationships, do what you want and hire good lawyers. But while Teigen likely has a strong legal defense here, I also think the problem is that she behaved kind of shadily. Even if it turns out that most of the decisions were made by her team. It's HER team and its her name on the products.

I encounter this a lot. The best way to avoid getting sued is by not pissing people off, and you can do that while still pursuing your business objectives. What happens is people get lazy and sloppy, they assume everyone they encounter ice just a tool to be used in pursuing their own goals, and they make dumb mistakes that will cost them in good will and sometimes also in real money.

When you see someone who is perpetually the subject of controversy around their personal behavior or business practices, there's usually a reason for that. People who behave ethically and treat others well might get unlucky with the random vicious person who is out to get them or is jealous of their success. But if you are constantly the subject of controversy for your behavior, the problem is you.

Not sticking up for Teigen because I don't care about her either way. But from it doesen't seem like Teigen intended to launch her own line before their collaboration. Teigen came across the Baker product and she tweeted that she loved it. The baker saw the tweet and says she decided to shoot her shot and suggest a collaboration. She was pleasantly surprised when Teigen agreed.

[Anonymous]

The Baker might not have known about Teigen's past controversy. I only know about the bullying stuff because I read it here. I'm not sure if there are other controversies surrounding her.

[Anonymous]

I feel like nobody has seen the picture of both boxes because they are nothing alike.

One is green or red on 3 sides and one is white all around.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will never ever not be gleeful about her downfall because of what she did to Alison Roman.

I will still never understand what was wrong about what Roman said about Teigen, who did in fact jump from having one successful cookbook to have a bunch of branded consumer goods. The whole subject of that interview was Roman trying to square the trajectory of her career with her personal philosophy. She said she didn't want to go the Teigen route. She was basically saying "I am okay making a lot less money than, say, Chrissy Teigen, if it means getting to do things that I really believe in instead of just slapping my name on things."

The fact that Teigen decided to take personal offense at this is weird to me and says she seriously lacks self-awareness. You have a branded line of cookware at Target and blog run by other people selling advertising. It's not a new strategy -- Martha Stewart paved that path and Teigen followed it. It's so weird to me that you'd be personally offended by someone accurately describing your approach to business, even if they followed up by saying "I don't want that."

The reason Teigen grates to me is that she needs all the cool kids to like her. It motivates all her behavior. It's why she used to cyber bully people in weak social positions (look how clever I can be), it's why she started poking at Trump when it was popular to do so, it's why she throws a fit when someone like Roman has some *mild* but accurate criticism of her.

Imagine how Martha Stewart would react to that same criticism. She'd laugh, make it into a joke in her next magazine/show/product launch and move the eff on. Teigen threw a pity party and launched her internet minions on Roman. Classless.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I feel like nobody has seen the picture of both boxes because they are nothing alike.

One is green or red on 3 sides and one is white all around.

Yes but both feature one white side that has a photograph of hand holding the product on a white background. The boxes are the same shape and size and both feature a similar details about "history of the brand." They both come with a baking utensil inside. They are not identical but a consumer might confuse the two since they are both selling packaged mixes. And that would be a problem for the Caker because they are a much small company with limited distribution. Teigen likely has a much larger reach, and if Teigen's product is sufficiently similar to confuse or "trick" consumers, it could cost the Caker opportunities and real money. This could actually threaten their business.

I think its borderline because the products do appear to different (it's not clear that Teigen's line has any cakes in it, whereas the Caker is exclusively cakes) and have very different price points (the Caker products are very high quality and have speciality ingredients, and a $25 price tag to match). But it's not accurate to say they look "nothing" alike. There is clear overlap, the biggest being the photo presentation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Baker might not have known about Teigen's past controversy. I only know about the bullying stuff because I read it here. I'm not sure if there are other controversies surrounding her.

Why is it relevant if the Caker knew about Teigen's past controversies? This seems immaterial.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm a lawyer and am really unsure of the legal merits of this case. I'd have to look much more closely not only at both packages but also at the universe of packaging in this market sector. Plus I'd want to know if the Caker had registered their packaging as trade dress in the US (which they might not have since they only recently moved to the US).

But from a non-legal standpoint, it seems obvious to me that if you want to maintain good working relationships with people, you should disclose to them that you are going to be launching a similar product to theirs before doing a collaboration, and you should make some effort not to avoid copying their product. I mean, if you don't care about good working relationships, do what you want and hire good lawyers. But while Teigen likely has a strong legal defense here, I also think the problem is that she behaved kind of shadily. Even if it turns out that most of the decisions were made by her team. It's HER team and its her name on the products.

I encounter this a lot. The best way to avoid getting sued is by not pissing people off, and you can do that while still pursuing your business objectives. What happens is people get lazy and sloppy, they assume everyone they encounter ice just a tool to be used in pursuing their own goals, and they make dumb mistakes that will cost them in good will and sometimes also in real money.

When you see someone who is perpetually the subject of controversy around their personal behavior or business practices, there's usually a reason for that. People who behave ethically and treat others well might get unlucky with the random vicious person who is out to get them or is jealous of their success. But if you are constantly the subject of controversy for your behavior, the problem is you.

Not sticking up for Teigen because I don't care about her either way. But from it doesen't seem like Teigen intended to launch her own line before their collaboration. Teigen came across the Baker product and she tweeted that she loved it. The baker saw the tweet and says she decided to shoot her shot and suggest a collaboration. She was pleasantly surprised when Teigen agreed.

That might actually be a mark AGAINST Teigen, because apparently the Caker found out about Teigen's product launch midway through the collab. If Teigen previously had no plans to launch a line of mixes, then was in the midst of a collaboration with people who produce mixes, and then suddenly Teigen is launching a line of mixes with some eerily similar packaging, that's actually a really damning timeline in terms of whether or not Teigen intended to copy the product. It makes it look like Teigen just straight up stole the product idea, right down to trade dress, and decided to launch it under her own brand. Sketchy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The Baker might not have known about Teigen's past controversy. I only know about the bullying stuff because I read it here. I'm not sure if there are other controversies surrounding her.

Why is it relevant if the Caker knew about Teigen's past controversies? This seems immaterial.

I personally didn't think it was relevant, but the lawyer I quoted mentioned it.

[Anonymous]

^^ Sorry, I didn't quote the lawyer, but it was mentioned in that post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I will never ever not be gleeful about her downfall because of what she did to Alison Roman.

Alison Roman is a disgusting piece of shit who copies traditional ethnic recipes and calls them her own.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I feel like nobody has seen the picture of both boxes because they are nothing alike.

One is green or red on 3 sides and one is white all around.

Yes but both feature one white side that has a photograph of hand holding the product on a white background. The boxes are the same shape and size and both feature a similar details about "history of the brand." They both come with a baking utensil inside. They are not identical but a consumer might confuse the two since they are both selling packaged mixes. And that would be a problem for the Caker because they are a much small company with limited distribution. Teigen likely has a much larger reach, and if Teigen's product is sufficiently similar to confuse or "trick" consumers, it could cost the Caker opportunities and real money. This could actually threaten their business.

I think its borderline because the products do appear to different (it's not clear that Teigen's line has any cakes in it, whereas the Caker is exclusively cakes) and have very different price points (the Caker products are very high quality and have speciality ingredients, and a $25 price tag to match). But it's not accurate to say they look "nothing" alike. There is clear overlap, the biggest being the photo presentation.

You think people will be tricked even though the box is red or green and CT is white.

You think stores will shelve the cake lady’s boxes facing backwards?

Lol.