Question for the Knife Edge guys

L

lrogers

New member
When you add a model to the sim, do you have to enter into some sort of royality agreement with the model's manufacturer? I was just wondering if this was the reason the were no JR, Hirobo or Century helicopters included.
 
We do have to go through the proper licensing agreements to use real planes, yes. In general, we don't even start building an airplane until we have written approval from the license holder.
 
That seems real dumb on there parts ....don't they recognize free advertiising when they see it ...the freelance 3d modelers that contribute aircraft here are not making any $ doing so
it's a hobby to them..
And those company's are not losing a dime..on the contrary
if someone fly's a RF "version" of one of their aircraft and likes it ....he just may go out and buy the real product from them !!!!... And like jeffpn eluded to... I guess the only one that would not be happy with that scenario would be great planes!
 
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There are other flight sims that have the aircraft that RF doesn't have, and they don't have the aircraft that RF has. Coke and Pepsi. Pretty simple.
 
Maj. Numbskully said:
...the freelance 3d modelers that contribute aircraft here are not making any $ doing so
it's a hobby to them.
Click to expand...
That's exactly so: the people doing models for the swap pages aren't making money. Knife Edge, however, does make money on the product we sell, and as such, copyright law prevents us from making any old airplane unless it's either a.) a public domain design, b.) an original Knife Edge design, or c.) a design we have legal permission to use. And as you can imagine, Hobbico's competitors aren't jumping at the opportunity to have their designs used to make a profit for Hobbico. ;) Jeffpm is right on with the "Coke v. Pepsi" analogy.
 
Taking another step

I agree with the mentioned Coke vs. Pepsi analogy. I would then ask, why it is possible to allow contributors to put up some of the aircraft to the swap pages that are there. For example, is there a memorandum of understanding with Align for their helis?

If I wanted to put up a Seagull model, what are the proper steps for getting permission from the license holder? By allowing for the unfiltered uploading of unlicensed models to the swap pages, is KE not supporting the theft of intellectual property? They could be hosting the means and methods for this.

What about color schemes? I read in one of the model magazines that a company has licensed the Rolling Thunder scheme for the YAK 54. My guess is that the owner of KE has that license. What about other paint schemes? Are they not equally the the IP of the owner?

It is all getting very difficult in these days of IP lawyers.
 
M. Huffman has your answer, wjkssmd. It's possible for contributers to create any model because they are not profiting by it. Legal to do? Probably not, but it's tolerated. If you were charging for your swaps submission, you'd have the same issue. It's small potatos, and not worth a lawyer's time.
 
OK so I don't profit...still I doubt that I have zero liability for ripping off the copyright holder. Presumably KE does because it enhances their product. My intrigue was about the hosting of these "pirate" models. KE is enabling a process that might not be entirely acceptable.

There is a contributor angle as you have pointed out. It is not a problem, until someone makes it a problem. In my mind, the IP holder could almost consider it a form of advertising for their product (which could be good or bad). Assuming the model is representative visually and a good physics model.

jeffpn said:
M. Huffman has your answer, wjkssmd. It's possible for contributers to create any model because they are not profiting by it. Legal to do? Probably not, but it's tolerated. If you were charging for your swaps submission, you'd have the same issue. It's small potatos, and not worth a lawyer's time.
Click to expand...
 
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