can you get even more greedy ?!

[instinct]

that is quite absurd as he woudl also have to call the kitchen appliance manufacturer, floor companies etc.
it really is absurd situation.

i understand turbosquid shoudl have asked permission from BMW but thats where i ends. For BMW its a for of presentation they dotn have to pay for in the end.


But if it really gets this far in the future, then its almost ideal business plan to setup a lawyer firm working on behalf of the producers sueing every freelancer nad studio around and making big bucks :-/

This world needs some cleansing for sure.

There is more to this than just money. It is about controlling your Brand and how it is presented too. People are doing crash videos with BMWs while BMW maybe does not want their cars to be shown involved in crashes for example.

In regards to the other comments i am wondering what is so confusing or absurd. As pointed out by Wilyman above people are always going nuts if someone dares to use an artists artwork for selling tshirts or alike. It's the very same thing besides BMW may seem less likeable than a freelance artist. And as others noted i was always wondering why this was not the case earlier heh.

Cheers,
Thorsten

[instinct]

poor guy, soon he will not see outside world other than behind the bars https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEmjAr2xyyg :P

Ironically that video does not play because the music used was not licensed by the GEMA for germany heh...

[Ivan1982]

There is something like editorial and fair usage, American courts are very open to that idea(thank god). In order to crash BMW in the movie you do not need any special permision from manufacturer. Even if someone deliberately claming BMW is piece of... and hummers down the car doesn't require any special approval fom BMW, they can try to dispute usage by claiming someone wants to misrepresent their product, but movie is not commercial and that is why all motion pictures have disclamers at the end how everything is fiction... Now since everyone want to avoid that situations and they want to use brands(product placement) and earn cash from car brands(or anyone), that gave power to car companies and they got caried away too much, movies that revolve around car brands(Transporter) are stupid beyond belief anyways.

However TS wouldn't want any problems and they will make everything available only for editorial usage like it is now for Oscar, Zanotta and few other brands. They have full right as they are not claiming they are distributor of any specific brand, they are selling models and those models are property of people or brands (their mutual relationship and deals) it has nothing to do with TS.

They do not misrepresent BMW, lowering sales and they don't impact anything related to BMW as they didnt sale their cad files BMW can only benefit from them(free advertising). In order to avoid getting sued by having car in archi shot you can have other brands and objects, that way they are not able to claim you solely used their design for making profits(photo stock sites like getty protecting themselves in this way).

Huffing and puffing from legal team, lol.

[AJ Jefferies]

I also see no problem here, as others have stated BMW are entirely within their rights to control how their branding/trademarks/designs are used by third parties. As Lele said, to use a commercial, protected design in another commercial project you absolutely should contact the owner of that design, and if someone is making a profit selling replicas, even digital, of designs/branding that is protected it makes perfect sense for them to get shut down.

[AJ Jefferies]

They do not misrepresent BMW, lowering sales and they don't impact anything related to BMW as they didnt sale their cad files BMW can only benefit from them(free advertising).

But what's to stop me buying a BMW model, popping Hitler behind the steering wheel and having him drive over a load of puppies? That's where the concept of 'free advertising' falls down.

[andybot_cg]

BMW seems to be in a class by themselves in terms of "protecting" their brand. There's a car dealership in town that used to sell Porsche, Audi, and BMW. BMW didn't' let them sell their cars with the other ones any more and set up a new BMW only dealership... right next door. :P

[Mokiki]

While AJ example sounds borderline ridiculous it is pretty spot on. Companies spent a lot of money of how they are perceived by the public and if you get CAD files from the manufacture you have to sign documents (at least I haven't experienced it otherwise) that forbid you from using the data for anything else than the contracted work and obviously not giving other people access to it.

Just because companies didn't act on their right to protect their brand doesn't make it legal to infringe on it. In the end going down this path might be more trouble than it's worth but it would definitely shake some things up if they win the lawsuit.

[chadstevens]

I've often wondered this myself.

it seems logical to me that BMW are 'allowed' to do this but where does it end? what stops every other designer from saying that we need permission before using their design, does this mean that films that have car chases have to contact each and every car company that the camera happens to catch in the background to use their car? If that's the case do they have to contact each and every architect, candle maker, light designer to use their subject in a shot, where does it end? (this is not a rhetorical question, I would actually like to know what would happen in these situations)

And what about altering the design? if it still kind of looks like a BMW or Mercedes but doesn't have the brand and the body is slightly longer and higher does that still mean we are not allowed to use it?

Anyone who knows the answer to these questions I would love to hear from them.

Cheers.

[chadstevens]

They seem to have been forced to take off the BMW models already.

[flino2004]

Very complicated topic....I assume that if you don't use their logo and don't say is a BMW would be ok..... I've seen commercials for tires, insurance, cleaning products, etc.. With cars but they take the logos and signs away.

[lukx]

They seem to have been forced to take off the BMW models already.

yeah bmw is gone but Mercedes is still there

I guess I need to strat modeling BMW right now , because there will be big black market for those soon

[PIXELBOX_SRO]

why arent you guys talking in general?
lets put the cars aside and take a simple interior render where you use Rolf Benz sofa, Siemens appliance in the kitchen and some other well knwon brands.
Imagine how many parties you woould have to talk to before even starting a job?
How much woudl this communication, if someone actually have spoken to you from their end, make the project more expensive?
Who woudl pay for such projects?
If the clients wants these brands in the project because he is actually selling them and thus creating profit for those brands...whats the big deal about it? Why would they mind?
As if the viz profession wasnt already expensive enough in Europe with having to pay all these subscriptions (speaking about ADs price policy in EU)
Now i cannot imagin paying licence fees furniture and electronics makers so i can make a nice visual.

Thats where ia see the absurdity of it Thorsten, no matter how i look at it.

And since the most of us are law abiding we woudl follow such rules yes?
But the guys in India/China etc, they woudl not care...like they dont care now with licencing.
Where woudl this put us?

We are speaking about huge problems for model sites that helpp us deliver the in time every day.

Sorry if i insulted someone but i just can see this as a very dangerous precedent if the BMW totally wins it. And yes they have a right ot do this since its their brand but come oooooon.....its not like the selling of models representing their cars takes the company down is it?

[lukx]

Just because BMW collaborated with Nazis and an average of 80 slave laborers died each month at BMW factories they shouldn't have any rights !!!

[VelvetElvis]

http://www.protectingdesigns.com/bmw...nst-turbosquid, there is a link in the first paragraph to the actual court filing and what exactly they are filing against. You can see that in part, they are going after the use of their logos and distinctive design elements like the front grills. All which BMW holds the rights to. Pages 17 and 18 in the filing is where it starts to get interesting. Indeed BMW group is alleging that they have no control over these models and they do not want Hitler running over puppies in a BMW.

You need to change the designs just ever so slightly in order to get around this which isn't the case with these direct copy models being sold.

Here is the link to the filing: http://www.protectingdesigns.com/ima...-complaint.pdf

If anyone is is New Jersey, that is where BMW is demanding a jury trial. So cross your fingers for that jury duty notice!

[lukx]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1iopv4BsMD4