Hi all I don’t know if you’ve read the latest story on Blendernation about a guy who is getting in trouble with Lockheed Martin because he sold a 3d model of a B-24? Go over there and read it.
–>to summarise Lockheed Martin are saying that you can’t make 3d models of any of their planes… and that by doing so you are infringing on there trademark… which is total rubbish. Doing this is covered in under fair rights usage. The EFF are trying to help resolve the situation.
I submitted the story to dig. So go over there and digg the story up pls. They need to know that this kinda of behaviour is unacceptable. If this continues to happen… no more fan art… no more being able to make a living selling models etc. What’s next… not being able to make models of famous buildings… or computers or anything…!! Are they going to issue DMCA take down notices to 3d galleries now? Who knows?
It has appeared that all around, lawyers and their departments have become much more hawkish with regards to the job they are responsible for. This sort of thing is to be expected.
My suggestion to everyone is to fight this sort of thing directly. If you want to model a DC 10, don’t be afraid of being attacked by McDonnell Douglas. If you want to model a Dodge Charger LX, do so without fear. And by all means, don’t be afraid to model an F-22 Raptor!
The only way to fight this sort of thing is to entice the lawyers into abusing the DMCA, and get behind the EFF when you are targeted. It’s easy to put your work up on Turbosquid, so by all means put up any work you have that could be locked on by lawyers.
Military vehicles are probably safe to model since they where designed and contracted for/by the US government. Vehicles designed by private companies though are most likely covered by design patents, trademarks and other trade dress issues.
I know what’s next - no more taking pictures of fields growing Monsanto Round-Up Ready crops, or fields neighboring fields growing Monsanto crops. A few Monsanto seeds might have blown over there. Also, Monsanto GM plants are always releasing oxygen which you may license for a fee. In a court of law, you will be required to prove you have only breathed naturally occuring oxygen, or you will be levied a fine of $100,000 (or 2 euros, whichever is greater) for each O2 molecule you have stolen.
Sooner or later, this intellectual property nonsense is going to go over a tipping point and corporations that charge rent for ideas are going to be brought down by a mob with torches and pitchforks. Wouldn’t it be ironic if the final straw was the outrage of seriously pissed off CG hobbyists?
I’ve had turbosquid take my model down of a U.S. Military Helicopter without explanation. When I asked they said that due to recent demands by the DMCA They were not allowed to participate in the selling of models that could be “deemed” as copyright infringement. So I reposted the model again and they took it down. How am I suppose to make a living doing what I went to school for if I can’t even sell my models? Plus are they going to start saying that you can’t have a tv in your movie or animation because it looks like a sony model? This is all just a bunch of nonsense. Or what about cars? or eve bikes in your animation? Where do we draw the line and say that we have a right to model what we please. Not every model looks exactly like what it’s suppose to be.
I was in Starbucks in the UK and they wouldn’t let me take a photo of my friends that had the Starbucks logo in it. (we were on some kind of management training course where one of the deliverables was just that, but the starbucks crew didn’t know that.)
The starbucks employees had been explicitly told to not allow any photography that might have the logo in it on the premises. We had a long discussion with the manager…
In the end we just stood outside and took pictures through the window of our friends inside…
What a curious thing to get worked up about, but it just shows how ridiculously sensitive to copyrighy the world is becoming
I know this is going to get me flamed but it is ok to model something under fair use but be aware that anything that has a copyright on it (at least in the US) is the property of the creator and any derivate work from that has to have prior written permission from the owner. So legally Martin Lockheed owns all models of their planes since they own the copyright on those. And unless you are changing a whole lot about it they are the sole owner of it. So if you want to sell anything you made you will have to have permission from martin lockheed. This is especially true for trademarks since they have more rights associated with them.
Along another line this is also true for models from star wars, star trek etc… and what makes it worse is that they are allowed to take your models and use em to their liking if they find them on the internet or the like without giving you any recognition or payment for it.
the only thing you are protected from under fair use is that they can’t sue the crap out of you if you modelled them for fun and giving it away for free. But it is a totally different story when you sell the models.
And here the standard line ANAL.
Mmph! I don’t think this will ever happend considering that in a lot of democratic governments at least one third of the people were lawyers before going to politics.
my pov on this one…
everybody knows that a harley ™ is a piece of junk, but, apparently, everyone wants one (except me, im a ducati lover), the thing is, in the 60´s and 70´s every bike on every movies was a harley and everybody smoked marlboro ™, the (ab)use of those brands creat the cult around them, lucklly for them, in those days USA was… well diferent regarding the use of brands.
with this kind of todays thinking, the brand is the ultimate loser.
