Legality in selling assets with brands on them

[Deleted User]

Hello. I was just wondering if anyone knows the way this works. I've seen a lot of models being sold on asset sites like Turbosquid that have brand names on them. For example they have basketballs with the Spalding logo and cups with the Starbucks logo. So I assume this isn't legal, so I was curious why (again assuming it's not legal) these sites let these assets be sold that way. Am I correct that a person selling these assets could get in legal trouble if the company traces them back to the seller and maybe even the hosting site?

Appreciate any feedback!

Magihat

This might help you figure out the answer to your questions:
http://polycount.com/discussion/174378/bmw-suing-turbosquid-over-car-models

ZacD

Basically Turbosquid will claim it's user submitted content and there's no way they could realistically police their store, but they definitely profit off of users searching for brands and specific cars to download.

The content creator can get in a lot of trouble, depending on which country they are from, and they are likely to be sued for more than what they made in sales.

Chimp

You simply should not sell what you don't have the rights to. however, artists in places like china where it isnt easily enforceable, they do what they like so that's why you see it.