Hi All,
I am not sure if the Big Buck Bunny files creative commons usage allows me to take a tree out of a Blend file and use it in a commercial project?
Because it is a commercial project, there is no way I can put credit in my clients spot for the blender foundation or any other author who offers up their goods.
Does this mean I can not use any of these assets in a commercial venture?
No, unless it is explicitly stated that it is noncommercial, Creative Commons licensed art can be used for commercial purposes. You might want to read about the different licenses at http://creativecommons.org/choose/.
BBB files are CC-BY, that means you may use them commercially, but you must give credit. Details here.
From that page:
In short, this means you can freely reuse and distribute this content, also commercially, for as long you provide a proper attribution.
Right, As I mentioned, I can not give credit because it is a professional client. McDonalds legal will not let me put any copy other than what it approved by their regulatory department. They would simply want to purchase the asset and not put anyone else name on their advertisement. I work with other major clients that are in the same boat.
So from a practical standpoint anyone who releases their work with the caveat to require visible credit is really saying “No, you can not use my work in a commercial advertising project”. Because commercial advertising projects do not allow for credits/attributions to be displayed.
atom, your best bet would be to email the BF and ask them if you can use it but not cite it
Maybe not in your advertising project, but there are many commercial projects that allow attribution (films, games etc.).
Since your clients will not permit attribution, you are prohibited from using the Creative Commons license as your license to use it. However, the copyright holder may is not constrained by this and is therefore free to license it to you under a different license, so you can negotiate a commercial license with the copyright holder if the copyright holder is so inclined.
@Arch Dude and @mfoxxdogg:True, but commercial advertising timelines are generally very tight and awaiting approval for an asset would be hit or miss. I would still have to create a placeholder until approval came through. What would be nice is if BF would just setup a store where you could just purchase the mesh elements for commercial use from all their projects. Kind of like Turbosquid.
@Raub: Agreed, it really is an advertising limitation.
That’s right, if you can’t provide a proper attribution you cannot use the material. The whole idea with that license that you give credit to the original author.
I think the BF would give a very timely response.
Yes, you are allowed to do this. If you read the Creative Commons license itself, it states this.
There are numerous ways of crediting the Blender Foundation in a commercial project or any other author. Use a list of credits or a website link, etc. You will be able to use the assets in your commercial venture as long as you read the Creative Commons license and abide by the terms in the license.
As you wrote, the regulatory department will approve it or not. For you: it does not matter what we discuss here.
You could provide them with options to make up the decision, e.g. contact the copyright holder.
This conclusion is not true. You have to say:
“No you can not use my work if you are not showing the right credits.”
and
“This project does not allow other credits.”
than you can conclude -> “This project can’t meet the licence conditions”
If the conditions of BF and your client exclude eachother there is no deal. But you could make both deal with eachother as suggested already.
If you think it takes to long or is not possible, you might look for other resources of a tree.