yeah this shouldn't be a surprise, they had blueprint modeled models on their website, more surprised they haven't done anything about it sooner, more surprised about the pixar disney stuff that was linked above though, they have sued for a lot less then that.
I agree with pior. To me the actual surprise is there isn't more take down or C&D for game and cartoon IPs. For example, I'm pretty sure 0% of these are licensed: http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-model/disney/ http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-model/star-wars-movie/ http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-model/nintendo/
Idk. I suspect that there may be a little bit more to it than just changing a design slightly. I am no expert, but I doubt a small time artist would fare well in a legal dispute against a company like BMW or Disney. Defending is not exactly profitable considering any profits made will likely be shared with an attorney one…
Well, to the people that like no-holds bard competition, then whats more competitive than trying to keep up with anyone that can make your stuff. There IS NOTHING inherently wrong with any copying that has EVER been done what-so-ever. So says physics, but of course we work with emotions based that can be based upon…