Question about architecture and copyright for games

AlexLeighton

Hey all,

I'm starting to get a new (commercial) project going which would involve making quite accurate representations of publicly accessible spaces, although some of them would technically be private property, and I'm wondering if I might have problems with the properties' owners if I don't get permission.

For example, I'm doing a business plaza in downtown Toronto, surrounded by recognizable buildings and landmarks. Obviously I'm not going to include logos and such, but otherwise everything would be accurate. Would I have to modify the design of the buildings and the layout of the plaza, or should I be okay? My gut is telling me yes, but I would really like to hear from someone with more experience in the matter.

Thanks a bunch.

DeadlyFreeze

It depends on if it's trademarked or not, I know Empire State Building is trademarked and you need permission to use it. I imagine other buildings probably do the same if they are iconic enough.

If GTA:IV can get away with slightly changing buildings and using different names then you'll be fine.

Xoliul

They talked about this at work, if I remember correctly:
-You can use the exterior of anything, but there might be caveats with trademarks.
-You can't use the interior, it has to be made fictional, unless it's a public place.

Not a 100% sure about this since it's been a while.

danr

i asked this of the legal dept a while ago, and the answer pretty much came down to 'if it's a building owned by a business, imagine if they vacated and you moved your own business into the building instead. If everything related to the previous tenants could be removed, you're fine."

AlexLeighton

Thanks for the input guys!

AlecMoody

I know that in commercial photography it depends on how the building is featured in the image. If the empire state building is functionally/conceptually an important part of the image you need to get rights to use it. However, you can make an image that includes the the empire state building if it is trivial in the photo.

I would guess that in games this is a legal grey area.