Hello i have a question- Is it ok and legal to scan (via photogrammetry, this means including textures) a real object like for example some food bought in supermarket (like chicken, frozen pizza, chocolate bar,etc. etc.) and then use it in commercial projects or even sell the 3D model to someone (via my own website or if anything else via turbosquid etc.)?
Im talking about possible problems with copyright due to the presence of the wrapping of the product, including logo of the company who made the food (or anything). For example lets say i buy this in supermarket and scan it:
http://img.21food.com/20110609/product/1305166716937.jpg
or
http://www.boromir.ro/images/products/zoom/142/en/croissant-cu-crema-lapte-50g.png
or anything else, the problem are the textures, the whole graphical representation of the package and probably especially the logo...
Is it Legal to use it in commercial project? And is it legal to sell the resulting 3D model (including textures(!)) on my site or turbosquid or similiar?
If not how to fix it, is it sufficient to just erease the logo and replace it with something fictional or do i need to "redraw" the whole package texture :-O ?
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Real World Scanned Objects and Copyright?
Is it Legal to use it in commercial project? And is it legal to sell the resulting 3D model (including textures(!)) on my site or turbosquid or similiar?
Not without permission, for all of those questions.
Trademarks and trade dress cover more than just the images. They also include things like layout, color schemes, and any other distinctive element.
Why not just replace the trademarks with some made-up ones of your own?
A generic tie-closed bag and a generic crimp-sealed bag are fine as standard objects -- but you don't need to scan an actual product to get those.
Frob:
Yeah thats what i was worried about...
anybody else has an hindsight?
So for Example this object clearly breaks the "laws"?
http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/chocolate-snickers-3d-max/846290
And this one is quite obvious, but what if someone would use some less know regional trademark, like some local company thats making food for example in Turkey...
Would that make a difference, i mean is there any case that someone pressed charges for this?
Trademarks and trade dress cover more than just the images. They also include things like layout, color schemes, and any other distinctive element.
I meant the most of the texture, color scheme and all, should be reworked.
3D scanners have a hard time capturing details, there is only a small chance that it would capture trademarks in the mesh. Most details come from the texture, if the texture uses some made-up brands and it's own scheme it will look nothing like the original.
Also most of these are store bulk products, so unless the brand is known for a trademark packaging strategy it should be fine.
So for Example this object clearly breaks the "laws"?
http://www.turbosquid.com/3d-models/chocolate-snickers-3d-max/846290
And this one is quite obvious, but what if someone would use some less know regional trademark, like some local company thats making food for example in Turkey...
Would that make a difference, i mean is there any case that someone pressed charges for this?
These artists make the models believing that no one will take legal action against them because they are small and insignificant, witch is partly true. Actions is often taken against the asset store instead, don't be suppressed if the store removes your assets to protect itself.
TurboSquid has several licenses listed. Models of actual products usually have this big warning:
Extended Uses May Need Clearances
Just because someone else is doing it also does not mean its not illegal. I can go find some obscure brand make a model and texture it 100% identical and probably be safe and never get sued. That doesn't mean that they can't though. If they do ever find out They probably would sue. Always safe to make your own stuff, Its not hard to create some generic brand name for chip bags or chocolate bars.
You can also always try and get in touch with the company and see if they are okay with you using it, maybe sharing profits.
Edit:
As frob pointed out the license states what it can and cant be used for.
http://support.turbosquid.com/entries/31030006-Royalty-Free-License?locale=1
This is for the snickers bar you linked.
I would treat it the same as both:
- The rules that apply to photography (photography sites usually have good resources on dealing with copyright of your subject matter), and
- The rules that apply to reproducing real objects in books/TV/games
Often book authors will use real brands, etc, claiming fair use as it's required to ground their story in reality. There's been lawsuits over this, and in some cases, authors have won and set precedent.
Usually TV authors blur out any kind of real branding whatsoever to avoid creating a false association and potentially being sued... plus they want to be paid huge amounts of money to advertise any brands (product placement is something they can make a lot of money from).
Typically games play it safe and avoid using real-world products... however, EA recently (famously) back-flipped on this policy and started claiming the same rights as book authors do -- using real products in real settings to create believable stories.
Trademarks exist to protect consumers from counterfeit products. Technically, if I produce a film that shows someone's trademarks in the background (e.g. my character walks past a Subway(tm) and eats a Snickers(tm)), I'm not guilty of trademark infringement. I'm also not actually reproducing their packaging, so I'm not guilty of copyright infringement. They might sue me anyway though... and maybe they'll find a loophole, or a weird past precedent, and maybe they'll actually be able to convict me as being guilty.
Just be aware that you can be sued for anything (right or wrong), so often people take the safest route and avoid doing things that are technically allowed by law, in order to reduce their risks...
Why did you reported that guy? I did find him just by accident, didnt want to cause any harm to him, was it really a necessary move??
Otherwise thanks for replies to all.
Im planning to be using "obscure" local brands that noeone knows anyway, im also not really interested in reworking the whole packeging, so i will go probably with modified wrappings (will take delete most ofthe text and logos, but will leave background, will add my own text and logos and maybe change some other things, since its just a local brand i believe it should be ok, im really not ineterested in redoign the whole package...
BTW did you know about anybody (freelancer i mean) who got sued because of this kind of stuff?
For example i know that some similiar site to turbosquid.com removed half-a-year (or a year) all products that had some "keyword" (like all apple products), all BMW cars, or ferari cars etc... due to some (possible?) law problems, turbosquid instead has them still on... do you know anybody (individual, not a big company) that got in reality sued for it?
