Is it legal to use an aircraft looks the same as f-15 in my game, while not naming it as f-15?

Let’s say, the situation is:
1. It’s a commercial game, and an aircraft looks the same or similar as f-15 shown up in this game.
2. This aircraft is not being named nor mentioned verbally in this game at all, it just showed up as a graphic.
3. The game producer didn’t get a license from Boeing to use the shape or design of f-15 in his game.

Is it legal to do so for a producer?
I understand this is not a legal support forum, any help are profoundly appreciated.

 

Correct, so the only true answer is to consult a layer.

 

No. Airplane names are trademarked. Airplane appearances are copyrighted. Avoiding use of the first won't stop legal action against the second.

 

Althought, I doubt if aircraft manufacturers does care about using their aircrafts in games. Games did that since beginning.

Does anyone heard about case, that aircraft maker stopped game developer?

It is more likely this to happen from car makers, as cars are bought by consumers, average Joe.

 

Companies pay for licenses.

 

Even if it hasn't happened doesn't mean it won't happen.

I remember quite well how one of the splash screens for the Ace Combat games shows all the brands that they licensed the game's various jets from.

 

And just because you haven't heard of it doesn't mean it hasn't happened. Lawsuits are a last resort that only take place once other attempts to deal with the situation have failed.

 

Yeah, this is why you hear of 'take down requests' more so than you hear of full blown lawsuits. Off the top of my head I can think of a number of fan game projects that were murdered (mostly by Nintendo) by a take down request.

 

Just study the silhouettes and general design and extrapolate your own ideas from there. Aside from keeping you from having to worry about legal trouble (though often unenforced for smaller titles, it's better to be safe than sorry), it's also more fun.

 

Just make it different. Most people probably won't even notice.

 

Thank you for turning in!
Is there anyway we can check if a game developer is licensed to use the shape of some aircraft they used in their game?
As for what I know, there are lots of games using in-real-world armaments which their developer didn’t show their license to use them as what Ace Combat do, some of them was just too small to convince me that they got all those graphics licensed from Sukoi to Lockheed, from submarines to ground units to aircrafts.

 

Why does it matter to you?

 

i'd change one character in the name and one or two details on the model and forget about it.

if i pop up on lockheed martins radar from a video game i made, at that point i can afford a law firm.

 

If they got the license, I would like to know how the small companies managed to do it with limited resources.
If they didn’t got the license, it would be a good news because colt failed the lawsuit against bushmaster for the similar reason.
So I’m curious about if there’s anyway to make sure if a developer is licensed to use the graphic of an real-world armament in their game.

 

https://caselaw.findlaw.com/us-1st-circuit/1173327.html

About the Colt vs Bushmaster thing, it seems that bushmaster proved that there are already many companies using M4A1 in their product names or the similar design, so it is considered the relevant consuming public continues to associate M4 with the military designation for a carbine that has certain characteristics, not necessarily related to the colt produced ones.
So what if there are many games already using su-27, f-35 in their games with out getting a license?

 

You need to contact a lawyer. You may end up sued by Boeing. Boeing has more legal firepower than you.

You're sort of hoping here that if others g et away with it, then you'll get away with it too, which is not exactly the case.

Su-27 is Russian and they're significantly less likely to start international lawsuits over videogames.

 

Doesnt matter in the slightest. Rather than being needlessly argumentative, actually listen to what people have told you.

You cannot legally use these. Its as simple as that.

Doesnt matter about others - stop trying to divert from the issue. Thats the law - stick to it. There is nothing more to discuss regarding that.

Good luck.

 

It's illegal without a license. Don't care what examples exist out there. Stop wasting our time with back and forth like somehow you need our permission to be illegal.

Fact is we get these posts really often. Goes like this:

1. person really wants to use a model that they know full well is copyright
2. seeks some kind of approval or loophole
3. makes forum post because ninja

Just model an extra wing on it and call it a J15 or something! Original is good too!

 

Another factor beyond just the legal repercussions is that you will have a harder time finding people that are good to work with if they know you're knowingly breaking copyrights. Partially because it's unethical but also because it will negatively impact their own career making it more difficult for them to find good work.

 

The likely scenario is that the name is trademarked, and the shape is copyrighted.

So it makes sense to create something that looks different and is named different. See GTA cars for inspiration.

For example:
https://gta.fandom.com/wiki/Banshee

 

Call it the Beagle AF-15, give it some landing paws and have it get in dogfights. You will make more money and be creative at the same time. Why does everybody want to learn the same guitar solo and play covers??

 

Thank you so much for sharing your answer! I would never be needlessly argumentative towards anybody, nor would divert from a topic, all I want is to be helpful as much as I could to provide the relative information to the question!
Sorry for causing you any uncomfortable experience! please have a pleasant day!