I haven't seen this asked around before, but there sure are a lot of games that use military planes for games, even commercial ones. The question is.. do they have to pay for licensing them? Car racing games seem to have to do it..

I am not familiar with Australian IP law, but they're probably paying for use of trademarked names and logos. In U.S anyway, utilitarian aspects of "useful articles" are not protected, like the over all shape of the car or plane. Only "features that can be identified separately from, and are capable of existing independently of, the utilitarian aspects of the article." are protected.

Probably something to ask a lawyer since there are plenty of nuances.

[Edited by - prh99 on May 23, 2009 1:59:10 PM]

Yes you do. It has been asked many times. You are representing someones product via a video-game. Say you have a cinematic with an F-22 getting hit with a crappy rpg. Well, someone might get pissed about that.

You can also look at any flight game, like HAWX, front title says "licensed by BOEING etc". So again the answer is yes.

Just rename them and use similar looking models. A lot of games do this. Even something like command and conquer (I believe) just got away with "Raptor, Comanche, Humvee". So I think maybe as long as you don't have model numbers like F-22, you might be fine.

Hmm, good point, that last one. Probably some mesh/texture remodelling and naming it something similar huh.. >:D

Quote: Original post by underthesun
I haven't seen this asked around before

Here are some related threads:
* click
* click

I've seen terms and conditions that state that ya can't use certain software for things such as air traffic control, nuclear facilities and such..I've wondered if a simulator/game would violate those conditions somehow..

The top selling game a while ago for iPhone was a stylized air traffic control game.. maybe it's not realistic enough to warrant attention? I doubt anyone would sue over something like that though.

Generally it's OK, I believe. I do know that the guys who developed IL-2 got in trouble with some US corporations for using their WW2 aircraft (Boeing, etc) without a license. However, the general idea seems to be that those companies went after them because the developers are foreign and probably would not have a good understanding of the US legal system. I don't know if they got any money out of it. However, if you look around, plenty of games use it without licensing the stuff, so I don't think it's THAT big of a problem.

Realistically, you'll probably going to only get nailed if you're going commercial in a big way. You're probably best off slightly modifying designs and renaming them something random, like what Counterstrike did with guns.

I'm basically pulling this out of my ass, though.

Quote: Original post by jhypsyshah
I've seen terms and conditions that state that ya can't use certain software for things such as air traffic control, nuclear facilities and such..I've wondered if a simulator/game would violate those conditions somehow..

You're probably thinking of a disclaimer to any liability for the software failing to be suitable for those applications.