So I see a lot of games with brand name cars. Likely the developer of these games do not have the legal authority to put them into their games? Does roblox have a generic ok from these companies?
Additionally. Are developers building these themselves or importing from outside roblox? If importing again does roblox have generic “OK” to do this?
Thoughts on any of these things?
Alright, keep in mind that what I’m about to say is merely speculation and I might not be entirely correct whatsoever.
To my knowledge, Roblox does not have the generic “ok” to use these brand names. From what I understand, developers have to obtain the rights to use the brands in their games. I was told that this is why Vehicle Simulator and (I’m pretty certain but I might be wrong here) Ultimate Driving both changed their car brand and model names.
As for the meshes (this is an area I will probably be more likely to be incorrect on), I’m under the impression that as long as you rightfully purchased the files from a genuine source or created them for yourself, I believe you would be in the “ok” to do so. The only reason I can think this might not actually be the case is some car manufacturers might have extremely strict right claims to their car designs, which might include 3D representations? I highly doubt this, but once again, I might be wrong.
What does this generic “OK” mean?
You’re not allowed to use car brand names because most, if not all are subject to a trademark protecting the brand name, logo, ect . By doing so, you’re infringing the trademark and opening yourself up to legal action, possibly the change of being sued. However with that in mind, you can alter the names or essentially make “parodies”. For example Nike, can be Mike or Sike. Ford could be Lord. That aside, if you’re planning on using brand names you should probably email the company to get consent or consult their public brand guidelines if available.
At the end of the day, I would play it safe and not risk it. Don’t use brand names protected by registered trademarks or get consent from the company/owner beforehand.
As far as your second question goes, there’s no definitive answer, but there is one thing I want to clear up. Importing cars or essentially assests from websites may or may not be allowed, depending on if it’s free to use or not. If it’s copyrighted or explicitly stated prohibited, then I would probably steer away from using them.
Once again, I’m not a lawyer or anything or I highly doubt anyone else on the forum is. You should probably consult a lawyer for more advice.
You cannot release a commercialized game with brand names without permission from the brand holder. As for free and fair use, it depends on how you use the logo.
Most of these cars are imported or bought from 3D artists from what I know. Most 3D artists allow you to commercialize if you buy the right license.