polygon mesh product copyright law?

Decoyz

Hey I have a question that I don't know how to google.
Basically I am creating a model in maya of an assembly line robotic arm, based off of one of the real-life products of Fanuc Robotics.

I am using this mostly for learning purposes at the moment, but I want to in the future use it as a game prop in a sci-fi game I want to create.

Is it illegal to use this, since it has almost the same shape as their product? If it is illegal, then how much do I have to change it before I can call it my own and legally use it as one of my game props?

repete

Just get the work done and don't get distracted by copyright's, it's futile at this stage.
I can't imagine Fanuc Robotics taking you to court over a model that looks like their physical product, would be pretty pointless.

Look at the assets used in modern games, I don't think studios are forking out "royalties" for using assets that look like the real thing.

passerby

People make very accurate reproductions of well known guns all the time with out issue so don't see this being a issue either.

Drav

In theory, if you model an exact likeness they could take you to court. In practice this would never happen.

For best practices sake its best to use it as a reference, and add some little touches of your own, especially if its going in a scifi game anyway. As long as theres no logos, and you dont refer to it by its real name, and (ideally) the design is slightly different, you'll be fine even if your game unexpectedly make 50 million dollars.


Copyright is actually become a much bigger issue in video games, particularly if you are a large company. Landmarks in London for instance all have to be cleared for use.......its not so much they want money, but they want their icon portrayed in a good light. The architect might not want london bridge collapsing for example.


Anyway, back to your point, GTA 5 cars bear more than a passing resemblance to their real life counterparts......and they run over pedestrians! Either theres been some passing of money, or their legal team knows just how much they can get away with. No logos is a must, but after that its a grey area.

ysalex

I was thinking about this and likeness the other day - actually for a couple years, since I saw INFINITE do his likenesses on CGTALK which were dead accurate to the actresses, and photoreal, and in some shots nude.

Ellen Page went on record as being affronted by NAUGHTYDOG for 'ripping off her likeness'. I don't think legal action was ever taken, but who knows. NAUGHTYDOG sure backed off quickly, changed up the characters face.

http://www.theverge.com/2013/6/24/4458368/ellen-page-says-the-last-of-us-ripped-off-her-license

Part of this seemed to be that Page herself was being featured as a character in a game, beyond two souls, and I guess having her likeness in two games one studio maybe felt there would be lost revenue or something - who knows.

In an interesting twist, Page is now considering legal action against the developer of beyond two souls for featuring her likeness in game, on a nude character, which she apparently thought was innapropriate (and if it wasn't in her contract that she was agreeing to nudity, I think she's right).

http://www.examiner.com/article/ellen-page-may-sue-sony-over-video-game-nudity

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These events are current to my knowledge, but I appologize if I have factual errors here.

repete

I think we should stop talking about this, some companies might see it as a "new form of income or loss of income" :poly122:

:poly121:

praetus

I'll ask this. How many vehicles are just on this page for Turbosquid? I would imagine that not many of these are licensed but they are pretty exact replicas. Also, there is this story on EA and gun licensing. And by licensing I mean, they don't. They consider the guns they use in their games to be fair use.

As the Reuters story notes, EA considers the use of authentic weaponry to be a fair use of gun makers' trademarks. "We're telling a story and we have a point of view," EA President of Labels Frank Gibeau told Reuters. "A book doesn't pay for saying the word 'Colt,' for example."

Legally, it's a bit of a gray area that hasn't really been defined as far as I know, but my research was a pretty quick google search so what do I know. :poly124:

seth.

H+K will make you pay for using their guns in game, when I worked on 007 legends a few of the weapons had to be distinctly re modeled and re branded with imaginary names because of this...it appears to be on a per game basis too, as our publisher was Activison, and I don't see COD having any issues with licensed weapons

Dafter than that I have had to change boot soles for legal reasons on a game before now....Dr Martin and Timberland tread patterns are verboten it seems... Or someone on a legal team was really fastidious about covering their arse

Snader

"almost the same shape" for a robotic arm isn't too bad. Stay the hell away from using official logos or brandnames though.

But like others have said it would be a good idea to change some parts. Simply adding some handles, cutting away some excess metal would make it looks a fair bit different. Something like this maybe:

Decoyz

hah, thanks for the replies. that's somewhat of a relief. so kind of a grey area in a nutshell. but good to know i can get away with it by slight modifications . yeah im definately not including their logo or name, and definately making some improvisational changes.

Isaiah Sherman

seth. wrote: »

H+K will make you pay for using their guns in game, when I worked on 007 legends a few of the weapons had to be distinctly re modeled and re branded with imaginary names because of this...it appears to be on a per game basis too, as our publisher was Activison, and I don't see COD having any issues with licensed weapons

Dafter than that I have had to change boot soles for legal reasons on a game before now....Dr Martin and Timberland tread patterns are verboten it seems... Or someone on a legal team was really fastidious about covering their arse

I believe this is what happened to Counter-Strike as well. Once it started selling they had to change the names of the guns due to copyright issues.