legality of selling 3d assets of popular products

News & General Discussion
1

for example, if i made a 3d model of a Pepsi can and sold it on the asset store, is that illegal?

2

Nope, not without written permission from Pepsi. Even then, the asset store might not accept it just in case you forged that permission, to cover themselves from liability.

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3

Fairly certain you meant “Yeah” or “Yes”. :wink:

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4

ok, i ask because i saw somewhere someone selling 3d models of Dove products.

5

Some sites, like TurboSquid, don’t put forth any effort to stop the upload and sale of resources owned by someone other than the person who put it up there. You have to be wary of where you acquire your assets because some of them may appear to be completely safe and aren’t.

My favorite example of a developer being caught unaware is 7 Days to Die.

http://www.cinemablend.com/games/Why-7-Days-Die-Was-Removed-From-Steam-60086.html

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6

Well, you’re not allowed to use someone’s trademark without a permission in commercial fashion. Pepsi is a trademark.

Which is the reason why why Fallout has Nuka-Cola, and why anime computers have pineapple logo on them.

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7

also the infamous white cross on red background on medkits.

edit: Meant to type red cross on white background here.

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8

Good catch… I accidently read the question as “legal” not “illegal”… so yes… I meant yes. :slight_smile:

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9

Pespi!

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10

DIck move from Killign floor devs, they could just have asked them toi change the model first then file a take down if they did not change model

edit: read the whole article now, thats whats they tried todo, good guys :smile:

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11

While I’m sure you’re aware, I feel like somebody should say that this would still not fly. Now if you called it “Dumb Pepsi” that could be considered parody…

But I wouldn’t take the chance. Lawsuits are inconvenient at best.

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12

What? Really?

13

Yes, of course. I was … perfectly aware of it.

I just need to make some urgent phone calls, about something completely unrelated…

panics

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14

Err… I ment to type red cross on white background, but it came out more Swiss than intended. I am actually not sure if white cross on red background is protected, but I know it’s common practice to just use a green cross nowdays to avoid the problem.

15

Yes it is protected. The International Committee of The Red Cross has recently started enforcing it. The developers of Prison Architect recieved a notice that the use of the red cross emblem violates the Geneva Convention. Im not a lawyer but that just sounds scarier than copyright trademark kind of stuff.

Edit…woke up a bit and realized you said white cross on red background which is reversed. I am unsure on that but still wouldn’t toy around with the Geneva Convention.

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16

What about a red plus sign? Like +20 for health all in red on a white background … but make the 20 white

Would that fly in court?

17

This. This isn’t a copyright or trade mark thing. Its about protecting relief services engaged in genuine combat zones.

The lawyers have just started cottoning on that video games are an important thing that are staying around. So they have just started coming down on this. But technically any use of the red cross symbol outside of relief services engaged in combat zones is a war crime. Its not something you want to mess around with.

18

Solution is obvious.

+sales for meme material.

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19

If this isn’t hypothetical, just invent a new cola, make a new texture, and update your asset?

20

What about public figures such as donald trump? if i have trump lookalike in my game will i have legal issues?