I'm currently working on a racegame. It is quite important for us to use real cars in our game. But, since this is our first title, we can't afford licences for our cars (besides, the cars get totally wrecked, which makes it even harder to get the licenses). I've heard Tokyo Extreem uses real models, but without brand/model names. Is this enough to avoid legal issues? From others I've heard I can't use the model at all. I've contacted the developers of Tokyo Extreem about this a few weeks ago, but I haven't got a reply yet. I've also informed with some car brands, but also without results. If we go freestyle; make a door a few inches longer, sqweeze the whole car a few percent, change the angle of the windshield, do *not* use any brand / model names.... are we in the green zone then? Kind regards, XAQT [edited by - XAQT on June 14, 2002 4:04:15 AM]

Some companies trademark the likeness their automobiles. The relevant metric here is that your depictions can''t be ''confused'' with the tradmarked version by a ''reasonable person.''

So, you have to make them different enough that it''s clear to everyone who looks that you''re not copying a specific car. Small changes will probably not be enough. Check out Grand Theft Auto 3... they did a pretty good job with this. You can figure out which cars map onto which real world versions, but they aren''t similar enough to be confused for the real thing.