Hi! I am fairly new to these forums, in fact this is my first post ever. I searched around a bit and couldn’t find an answer on my own… So, my question is am i allowed to post rendered images of a brand name item, such as a can of “Coca Cola” or a Toyota. that sort of thing, or do posted images have to be generic or made up?
You can post whatever you want for the most part. Many artist even sell specific car models and brand items in asset stores.
I believe you are breaching copyright and possibly trademark law if you use recognizable brands. See here for an example: http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2008/11/godzilla-terror/ However, if you do it for non-commercial reasons then it is unlikely that the company will take action.
Note that Blenderartists in the Forum Rules acknwledge that copyright http://blenderartists.org/forum/misc.php?do=showrules and using brand names/imagery may breach section 2.6.
Sorry to get all lawyer-like, but it is generally it is best to err on the side of respecting copyright even if you don’t agree with it.
- andrewMoved from “General Forums > Blender and CG Discussions” to “Support > Blender Artists Website Support”
The unfortunate answer is “it depends”. We can’t give a blanket statement that says something is or is not always in violation of intellectual property laws. For a variety of reasons (laws vary from country to country, posts here are artwork, etc.) here’s a bit of a gray area as it pertains to fair use. Companies tend to be a lot more concerned with trademark violations than copyright violations (in most countries, trademark owners are compelled to defend their mark or risk losing it altogether).
You are ultimately responsible for the content you post, so you can post anything you want within the confines of our forum rules. However, as a rule of thumb, if you intend to get some kind of material gain from the work, then it’s best to seek clearance from the IP owner before posting.
Thanks for the responses! I went ahead and played it safe and, we’ll just say, heavily altered the name of the brand. looking forward to hopefully contributing to this site soon!