why not release the car as unknown identity spread it throughout the scene sign an affiliate pre agreed contract with an advertising company apply those decals to the car bobs your uncle. Under those circumstances the law is different or so I believe you no longer making money from the type of car you drive just the sponser thats on it. Under the microscope these are two different things sponsership is no way related to the car you drive. Also as a case maybe think about this .. so one evening you decide to create your favourit race car to the highest detail within your capability, you show your friend your creation, he gets you drunk, you pass out he spends the entire evening posting it out on file sharing website because he thinks its so good possibly from your computer. However that was not your intention for the mod it was just for you and your friend to play on, not forgeting that you decided to put some lovely livery on your cars before you show your creation to him. The following day you wake up check your emails in your inbox is one from Porsche hmm you think, your accused of alsorts of stuff by Porsche however they cannot and should not be able to hold you responsible for your friends actions whether you hold a contract with an advertisment company or not its probably better in a trustworth friends name btw to dissassociate yourself. if you start making money through adverstisment from a mod it is very difficult to prove where that boost of increased income has come from. Should it be from the mod your friend decided to release nobody can prove that, if they try to prove it you will have to have a response in saying you promote that company under a different product you offer publicly legal. At the end of the day a case is only won by what you can or cant prove you just have to secure your defence under all circumstances. I maybe going to far into this and is it worth it for a sim racing game?
I know it's hard to obtain, but the deal we made in 2006 with Varano Racetrack (Italy), was legal 100%. Modding isn't dead, but gather licence or data, it's hard. Quality deserve good references, no question about it. I don't like to make something without datas/photos. We spent a lot of time and phone call trying to make some deal with many racetracks in northern Italy years ago, with few results. We have discovered that small racetrack's administrators,often, are more open minded and handy. They like to have a good, virtual counterpart, expecially with their istitutional sponsors in sight. They like to see proposal or previews of new structures, not in a flat 2d drawing, but in a game engine, not only gMotor, but also Unity3D. You need to touch the right keys to convince them.
Sure quality deserves correct data - but unless you don't want to deal with licenses this is not going to help you - it's the exact opposite - if you make a low quality mod with absurd physics and graphics nobody's going to sue you because the owner of copyrights knows that only few people will play it. When you make a high quality mod that's even advertised strongly, which Enduracers both do, you become interesting for them. That's beautiful to hear that you had a license with Varano, doesn't mean it would always go as easily though. I think Porsche would not act very friendly even when asking for license for a free to play mod (read not very friendly as really expensive license for anything). But let's not forget that this Porsche case is quite a unique case; maybe we're all just too scared and nothing like that will be happening regularly in future.
No, it's not easier. I've had a harder time with tracks than cars. Although, there have been some surprises where world famous tracks have come down to a good price, while a local track, famous probably only within the hardcore racing community, won't budge (and aren't going to be licensed). You also have agencies representing some tracks and cars, and frankly they don't care about your product, or even the brand they represent, they work for their own company. No two people you contact about licensing will give you the same response... It is something I quite enjoy doing. I can't really speak for the FOM or Codemasters. However, any unlicensed mod has the potential to be stopped, it always has.
Someone who knows who is "behind" Automaniax? I only know its a small company with 7 people in Arbon (Switzerland) with a german founder (Uwe Isack). Here is a statement from Automaniax (virtualR.net): "We also got a lot of request about the dev team behind our racing simulation. At this stage we can say it is not Slightly Mad Studios from UK. As we are a community project we are also using the power of our community to develop our simulation, but the strength of our own studio as well.We are using super talented race developers from the modding community to create a racing simulation which is as close to the expectations of our community as possible. Also we can state at this point that the rFactor1 engine is not the basis for our future development – this is just for our tech guys out there." The full artice is here: http://www.virtualr.net/automaniax-porsche-online-controversy-new-details I think a little bit more transparency would be nice. Anybody knows who are the talented race developers from the modding community?! GSMF or Enduracers? No, I´m just kidding! Why did the tech guys of Automaniax use rfactor during an official event? Was permission given by ISI or is there no permission needed? Mayby my post sounds a bit paranoid but i think if a modding group goes commercial (and i have no problems with that) and stops free modders by law we all should be aware of this. And a funny thing: From NoGripRacing (LeSunTzu): "Porsche sued shoe makers for the use of the name Cayman. They would have sued Barbara Carrera if they could, especially when she stole the show in that memorable Condorman movie despite Porsche's effort with a handful of badass 930s and 935..." LOL Cheers
http://www.facebook.com/pages/EnduRacers-Modding-Team/267099786652429 https://www.google.com/search?q=automaniax founders ... strange thing: You do not find those blog-entries at the homepage of automaniax anymore. But maybe you have to be signed-in to be able to read them ...
Well, if the Porsche Staff would try some Enduracers Mod they certanly would conclude it's not a Porsche anyway.
I refer you to the incident a few years back when Ford blocked a Mustang club's calendar they tried to sell on Cafe Press, because Ford claimed they owned the trademark for the Mustang as a whole.... I think the club eventually did get to put the calendar out because of the backlash against Ford, but I remember reading it at the time and j Ford: Car owners are pirates if they distribute pictures of their own cars
Right, somehow I start to feel that I don't want to have anything to do with cars anymore, if car makers like to be an ass, they can be it alone, I go fishing, fish don't sue me, yet...
Hi all, This sounds more of a case where they might start on RF and isi as let's be honest the game is being developed for more heavy modding and isi don't have to pay for licenses and just let the modding groups do the work what we all love. Car company's have noticed that no licenses have been payed for but all the cars end up in the game.
Interesting read on that one corsa. The body of the text from the message sent to BMC from fomoco pretty much laid it on the line as to the rights that companies have for their intellectual property.
