There’s many popular games on Roblox that use the real names of firearms: Phantom Forces, Apocalypse Rising, Frontlines, etc. But then you have actual standalone games like DayZ and even Counter Strike I think at one point that previously used to use real firearm names, but had to switch to parody names (like KA-M instead of AKM in DayZ for example). Counter Strike later worked out deals with the various trademark holders, so my question is…
If I make a game on Roblox, am I or am I not allowed to use real firearm names? Is it technically fair use? Do trademark holders just not really care unless you game became big enough (I’m gonna be honest, I don’t think most Roblox devs are actually paying for the rights to use the name in their games)? At least in the case of Phantom Forces and Apocalpyse Rising, seeing as how Frontlines is still pretty new, they’ve been using the names for years with no issue to my knowledge.
For a similar situation, there are tons of driving and racing games that all use parody brands obviously modeled after real vehicles. I’ve seen some of these have to go from using real brands to parodies, probably for legal reasons. Is there a difference between firearms and vehicles when it comes to this or something?