Attached Link: Beemers

*That's incorrect,* It is? *BMW trademarks their logo* Of course they do. Most people do. Yu don't even have to register it if you can establish prior use. So to trademark a logo, you merely have to use the logo. Therefore the BMW logo as we know it and as applied to 3D models would be an unregistered trademark owned by DAZ studios in this case. *they maintain that trademark no matter what the logo is placed on, be it a car, sign, or 3d model.* Oh, so why is it that BMW Imaging Systems (Business Machine Wholesale) is completely distinct from Bayerische Motoren Werke? But wait, there's more. There are [both live and dead registrations on] BMW dealership names that are completely seperate companies from BMW as service marks for the sale of automobiles rather than the manufacture of automobiles. As a matter of fact, take a look at what BMW [*does* have trademarked](http://tess2.uspto.gov/bin/showfield?f=doc&state=kv5npn.2.17). No, seems I was perfectly correct. However, thank you for the strong indication that you haven't got a bloody clue how trademark law and IP law in general works. Now please go learn something before you make a fool of yourself again, fygomatic. BeatYourSoul: *If one uses a picture of a Mustang in a render or a painting, I don't expect Ford to send in the lawyers - what would be their case? They'd have to sue anyone, anytime, anywhere who uses a Mustang in a picture or photographs one or uses its likeness, let's say, for a cartoon or comic. But, if the person is using it in a way, such as an accurate model or as a logo, that is being sold, then permission is required.* **No**, it *isn't*. [READ plase.](http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/doc/general/whatis.htm) [Or here](http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/tac/doc/basic/trade_defin.htm) It says, very specifically, *'...For example, a description of a machine could be copyrighted, but this would only prevent others from copying the description; it would not prevent others from writing a description of their own or from making and using the machine.'* A 3D model is a *description* of a machine, it's NOT a machine. It's a very detailed description -- a very very detailed description of what it looks like (and usually nothing about how it works) -- it's a description which only a computer can read accurately, and from which description a computer can draw you a picture of one, the description is that accurate. A model of a car does NOT violate trademark law because it's not the same good or service (unless they happen to have registered a trademark for 3D models and/or Poser content). A model of a car does not violate a patent, either, because it's not a working, people-moving machine. USPTO says '*A design consists of the visual ornamental characteristics embodied in, or applied to, an article of manufacture. Since a design is manifested in appearance, the subject matter of a design patent application may relate to the configuration or shape of an article, to the surface ornamentation applied to an article, or to the combination of configuration and surface ornamentation. A design for surface ornamentation is inseparable from the article to which it is applied and cannot exist alone. It must be a definite pattern of surface ornamentation, applied to an article of manufacture*.' You cannot copyright a machine.