Not necessarily prevent one from being sued.  Depends on several factors.  For the purposes of example, I'll use Disney since they are one the most litigious companies known.

Vendor X makes a model which is very much like a 3D version of Mickey Mouse.  In order to prevent getting sued, he names it Michael Mouse.  A friend advises him the name is too similar so, after a bit of thought he calls it Rodney Rodent.

Rodney Rodent goes on sale at Runtimeosity and somewhere on the line, a bod from Disney hears about it and checks out the screen shots.

Vendor X is then hit with a lawsuit on the basis that the character he sold is obviously derived from their character, Mickey Mouse and, as such, is an infringement of their intellectual property.  Disney wins.

Now, some of you might say the only reason Disney wins is because they can afford a shit hot legal team but the plain truth is Vendor X really did copy their work.

Now here's a real life, actual and genuine true scenario...

SamTherapy makes a model of a Dalek, the well known villain from the BBC tv show Doctor Who.  In order to avoid getting sued, he does not call it a Dalek, does not offer it for sale (it's a freebie) and the readme explicitly states it is not to be used for commercial purposes at all, and also acknowledges the original creators and copyright owners of the Daleks.

None of the above, however, are proof against being sued.  The fact of the matter is, I have copied someone else's intellectual property.  Whether or not I call it something else, charge for it or give it away or whatever I do is besides the point.  If BBC Worldwide and/or the estate of Terry Nation decide to sue me, they'd most likely win.

Of course, since I have nothing and have made nothing from it, they'd get nothing except an apology from me, and an undertaking to withdraw my models.  The downsides for them in that scenario are negative publicity (big company beating up little guy) and a loss of some free advertising for one of their characters.   Some companies take this attitude and allow copies of their stuff for the purposes of "Fan Art".  But remember, that's a privelege, not a right.

And, oh yeah, my Daleks are all available for download in Freestuff here.  :)

Coppula eam se non posit acceptera jocularum.

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