Yeah, I highly doubt that anybody will notice or care really…it’s just I’d prefer to be on the safe side, as there is no way I could ever afford a lawsuit of any kind. I think I’ll embellish on the designs a bit, change the names, and just keep the silhouette somewhat recognizable.
Don’t take this as legal advice: Because you’re a small, independent developer it is often easier to get forgiveness than permission. Make something that is close enough to make you happy with the design, but not identical to the original, and you will generally skate by just fine. Never admit to using a particular set of references, deny culpability, and when it comes to a fight, state “We weren’t real happy with that design anyway and were planning on changing it in the update. We’ve already designed entirely new models to replace these old ones.” And then do it. Midsize to large companies have legal departments that will tend to aggressively protect their IP even when the relationship to their IP is incidental. Over my career as an entrepreneur and software developer I have received several (not many, but more than enough) “you stole our idea” or “you stole our technology” letters that have no foundation in reality. It is just the way some people, and some companies, operate.
cough Rambus cough
I say err on the side of caution. Last thing a small developer needs is to be told to stop selling their hard work. Or worse, hand over any profits. In fact small developers should be extra cautious as they often don’t have the funds or time for a legal fight.
Hi! could you please to tell the name of the game you are working for?
What is your final decision for described case? Will you license the appearance of tanks for depicting it in the game? Have you found the cases about the similar questions?
Thank you:)
You need a licence and contract with each manufacture you use.
EA,Dice have contracts with all the real world weapon manufactures just to use the real names in the game.
Previously some of them had different names, because they where unable to obtain a license.
And that’ just a small thing like weapon names in the selection screen.
My day job is largely electronics repair of Abrams tank and Bradley. Abrams is General Dynamics and Bradley is BAE though many sub-components are manufactured by other contractors (Lockheed Martin, DRS, Honeywell, etc.) So do not count on the “fact”
If I am not mistaken, recently there was a news I read that was EXACTLY the argument EA was trying to argue for free use of real world vehicle in game.
"EA won’t pay arms manufacturers for licensed digital replicas of their guns and war paraphernalia in its action games - Battlefield 4 - this year. But it will use them anyway.
EA is asserting a constitutional free speech right to use the trademarks without permission. “We’re telling a story and we have a point of view. A book doesn’t pay for saying the word Colt, for example,” EA’s Frank Gibeau told Reuters."
It will be quite funny if one of the arms manufacturer making a game using one of EA’s trademark and cite it as “free speech”. 
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Hi all,
I know this isn’t exactly the place to ask for sound legal advice, but I just want to get some general opinions on this right now.
I am working on a tank game right now, and I just realized something. I am using real-life tanks (Challenger 2, M1A2 Abrams, T-90, etc.) in it. I also plan to sell it eventually. Do I have to go and ask for permission to use the likeness of these tanks, even if I don’t include company names, logos, or even real-life locations in the game? Not sure…books and DVD’s are for profit, and they sometimes contain images or videos of military vehicles. I’m assuming that it’s not necessary to get licenses for military vehicles in indie games…but I couldn’t find any rock-solid data confirming this. Does anybody have any better knowledge than me on this topic?
Oh, and what about tanks like the Merkava(Israel) or the Arjun(India)? Would the Indian/Israeli military consider my usage of a likeness of one of their vehicles copyright infringement, and is it possible for them to sue me through international law?
Sorry if I’m sounding a bid paranoid here…I just don’t want to face any sort of legal lawsuit
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hmmm… insightful:
My project a solo effort is still in early pre-alpha specifically the DCC asset pipe and I’ve pondered this IP litigious foible from time to time mostly during a particularly grindy all-night re-topo session.
Its a tech demo military FPS open beta iteration tentatively slated for a 1st QTR 2015 release on Android mobile/console platforms - 1 map + 6 missions with sentient AI portraying similar content.
The questions I usually ask myself in relation to this issue is:
- a. Would a tier 1 weapons contractor even begin to contemplate tasking its inhouse black ops legal team to hunt down some insignificant tosser depicting their TM’ed [very cool] weapon systems comprised of digitised quad/tri’s in 3d virtual space computed within a Tegra3 4.3x form factor?
- b. Or possibly a tier 2 sub-contractor generated stern cease and desist email with the expectation of compliance from the aforementioned developer?
- c. As the aforementioned developer if either a and/or b eventuated what course of action should I execute ignore or comply?
- d. Or Just finish the darn thing as is without deviation from the original concept and let the dice fly high?
d usually wins hands down every time.
Cheers 