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I was idly mapping the other day when I realised that some of the mapmodels are very detailed. I was looking at the Power Meter model, from the Home category, and reading the writing on it.
I noticed that it has the Westinghouse logo on it, and clearly says "Westinghouse"
I didn't want to get anyone into trouble, so I thought it would be best to bring this up, as avoiding this sort of thing is probably a good idea.
Although it's almost unnoticeable, I'm guessing it shouldn't really be there. (Unless there is adequete permission to have it there, in which case ignore everything I just said :)
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I'd like to know hat too, since I use photorealistic textures... :/
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I'd be more inclined to think the companies would enjoy the free advertising...?
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you'd think that, but you never know how people will react to these things (our logo in a violent video game? no way!).
However, as frogulis mentioned, he only noticed it when he looked very closely. Also, the company wouldn't have much to gain by trying to get money from a game that is distributed for free, so they would probably just send a "cease and desist" letter or something of that sort.
Of course, i'm not a legal expert or anything, so don't pretend even for a second that i know what i'm talking about :P
@a_slow_old_man: I wouldn't really worry about it. If you want to change anything, you could just blur out any brand names or w/e, and don't use a brand name to title your model.
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AFAIK this whole trademark stuff only applies if you slap someone else's logo on a product similar to theirs. That means you could probably sell a teddy bear called "Westinghouse", but not a "Westinghouse" boiler.
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26 Feb 11, 01:08AM
(This post was last modified: 26 Feb 11, 01:08AM by Ronald_Reagan.)
(26 Feb 11, 12:52AM)tempest Wrote: AFAIK this whole trademark stuff only applies if you slap someone else's logo on a product similar to theirs. That means you could probably sell a teddy bear called "Westinghouse", but not a "Westinghouse" boiler. Excluding china of course. They can do whatever they want to.
AFAIK, RK has been tracking down textures to slap licenses to them. I think a lot of them came from free sources. However, dont bother trusting me on this matter.
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Hmm. This model should indeed not carry a logo that is a registered trademark ™ or in any way infer the name of a company that actually exists. At least I highly doubt that the modeler got the permission to use it at this juncture - RK will look into it!
In general you should ALWAYS assume media you "find" is copyrighted. Unless you can find and ask the original author for permission you should never use somebody else's work. The only way they can relieve you of this ( oftentimes impossible) task is to bundle their work with an explicit license that grants you rights. This can be anything from putting their work in the public domain or more restrictive licenses that require you to attribute their work (a link to their website, mentioning them "somewhere" or such) or even restrict the license under which your derivative work (if the license allows it!!!) may be published. For example the CC-licenses have a very straight-forward way of categorizing exactly such levels of restriction-and/or-permissions.
Again: if in doubt: assume the most restrictive copyright applies
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27 Feb 11, 07:46AM
(This post was last modified: 27 Feb 11, 07:46AM by V-Man.)
Oh how I wish certain leech-like A-holes would take your advice when instead they claim to have developed AssaultCube so give them all teh monies.
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Yes. I just didn't want toca to get in trouble. He makes good stuff.
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(27 Feb 11, 06:31AM)flowtron Wrote: In general you should ALWAYS assume media you "find" is copyrighted. Unless you can find and ask the original author for permission you should never use somebody else's work
So for example I downloaded... car ref pictures of a mercedes from environment-textures.com (royality free) and I use them for the texture.
Does that mean because environment-textures uses royality free I can use the brand of mercedes or do I have to ask mercedes for the permission?
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you'd probably have to ask mercedes for permission to use their logo, but you could probably change/erase all the logos and use it like that.
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But the form of mercedes is clearly mercedes, I couldn't chnage that without making a whole different car.... :/
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Well, if you can show me a site providing material for your usage (you said "royalty free") that contains copyrighted-material I can show you a scam-website ;-)
I highly doubt they'd have the permission to publish that photo - OFC it's a different matter if you put up a photo of your mercedes on a gallery or for selling it.
And you should be careful about the notion of "simply reworking" media to get rid of possibly incriminating pieces - copyright is a very hard to fathom area; it's really safest to steer clear of any possible infringements. OFC that doesn't make life any easier.
In my experience the "royalty free"-licenses mostly come with the "give attribution"-clause or the "non-commercial"-clause. I really don't know what would happen if you took a photo of your car and put it into circulation (e.g. by using it in an AC map). I really would suggest always to use self-created textures etc. .. it's just safest.
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environment-textures.com Wrote:ROYALTY-FREE
The license guarantees that once you download the photos you can use them for any personal or commercial project as long as you wish without any additional payment. So I guess its their mercedes (in this case) and since its royality free I can use it?
I apologise for my inexperience
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NO! I've tried to be clear about this: do NOT assume anything to your benefit, always assume you DO NOT have any permission.
When I look at Vehicles on Env-Tex.com I see at least 2 pictures that probably have the same problem as your - probably only available to registered users - mercedes texture.
I can only stress that I'm definitely not versed in legal matters, so you might be in no trouble, but I do doubt this seriously. Quite apart from the most basic rule of law: when nobody is suing you there's no judge .. dunno, seems pointless in english - in german it's: "Wo kein Kläger, da kein Richter!" and the latin (original): "Ubi non accusator, ibi non iudex!"
As I also tried to tell you - there may quite well be sites "out there" telling you you'll be fine with using "their" pictures for whatever purposes, but that won't stop a court making you pay damages if they violate copyright law. Another ground-rule of law is: ignorance doesn't protect from punishment - Unwissenheit schützt vor Strafe nicht.
Copyright is a minefield, I can't stress this enough. Just go and read up on it a bit on the interwebs.
I can't give you any definitive answer on your specific question, only a lawyer could.
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Alright, thank you for clearing this up, I think I'll have to do some research.
Thanks for your time and your double explaining.
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flowtron Wrote:ignorance doesn't protect from punishment That's actually very understated here in the US.
Everyone tries to avoid learning what the laws are so they can use their ignorance as an excuse. "I didn't know that's illegal!" How surprised they are to find it doesn't work.
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flowtron Wrote:ignorance doesn't protect from punishment Then how come when i close my eyes you can't see me? shouldn't they operate under the same basic principles? :)
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Heh, V-Man .. on that point: ColbertNation.com video 03:07 - Ron Gould's bill would allow Arizonans to carry concealed firearms without a permit into all government-run facilities.
While you're there you might want to check out this too: ColbertNation.com video 05:36 - By allowing a four-year-old to be sued, a New York judge breaks new ground in the fight against tiny tot tyranny.
They're both from the same show - I only rarely watch Colbert, I prefer Stewart (Daily Show) - but that one was full of woofers!! Enjoy :-)
On topic: yes, research about copyright is highly advisable. Like:
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Are you God or something?
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Well, he has answered a few of my prayers.
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