I sent this letter to CGShare:

I find it hard to believe that this problem has not previously emerged and settled by you.

The way you indicate usage is cause for massive confusion. Why? Because you have the label "Usage Rights". That is a totally confusing term, especially because it is the only field provided.

Many contributors, worried they are giving away their copyright to the item, type in "All Right Reserved." But what does that mean to the user? We are not interested in stealing the ownership of the model. We certainly support the retention of the copyright by the modeler. So really "All Rights Reserved" is perfectly okay and we do not mind that this is stated, and stated boldly, as many times as needed to help prevent stealing, etc.

However, we need to know USAGE PERMISSION. Are we permitted to redistribute the free model to others? Are we permitted to incorporate it into a scene or another model which we then give away? Are we permitted to incorporate it into a 3D model we sell? Are we permitted to make renders using the model, then sell content based on those renders.

In general, we need spelled out for us if and how we can use or distribute the model, for free or for commercial use.

As a film-maker, any download I see on your site that says:

Usage Rights: All Right Reserved

is completely useless to me, since on the one hand I of course respect the ownership of the modeler, but on the other hand it does not convey to me permission to use the model in a set of a film which I might use for commercial purposes. It also does not tell me if I can give away the model for free to others.

You should also have the modeler (assuming they wish to grant commercial usage permission) indicate if they want/need a credit, and the exact language/syntax/name to be used on the credit.

NOTE 1: The ideal policy would be blanket: Yes, yes, the modeler retains all ownership rights to the model; yes, yes the model cannot be given away to others; and yes afirmatively: all models on CGSHare can be used in commercial projects.

NOTE 2: Whatever usage rights policy is established, the ideal would be to have a digital permission file included with the download.

Your site could be a valuable source for companies wanting to obtain models for projects, but with this confusing way of handling permissions, you are missing out.

This topic is being discussed on a thread in Renderosity.com and is of concern to many of your contributors. Please respond to this issue to me, and I will convey the resulting action you intend to take.

Thank you