Vehicles

[Komeg]

Hi

It is fair with law that some vehicles in game have names from real companies? Like Daimler or VW. Are developers asking agree with companies?

[kierongreen]

There is no agreement with companies, we rely on these being covered by fair use (which is protected in law). As far as I'm aware pak64 doesn't reference real life companies.

[Zeno]

I guess as long as there is no commercial use, it won't be considered bad use. Not sure though.
Anyway, translations is what final users see, and they can be modified in many languages; some may include such names, no matter the pakset, object author, or original/internal name.

[Ters]

There's also no accidents in Simutrans, which I've read was a concern for some legal staff at the publisher when Transport Tycoon went deluxe. They feared that they might get sued if their vehicles appeared accident prone. That might be a myth, though. Since I had the original, my vehicles were properly named, so I never cared.

[Komeg]

So problem with names is defended by fair use? If true, it was nice to know

[Zeno]

Well, they could be considered as free ads

Seriously, I understand companies want to avoid their brand name to be included in accidents, or comparisons with other vehicles, specially if their trademark is in disadvantage. And won't matter it's fair use or not. That's the only reason I can see for not using it. They could argue you're causing damage to their brand, fair or not.