Intellectual Property question... Is a photo of something like a matchbox car legal?

[Alluvian]

Could Mattel (or whoever makes matchbox cars) sue a game that uses a photograph of one of their cars as a playing piece?

I am toying around with art direction for an upcoming game, and one idea I like is to make it look like model cars racing around playmat.

Could I use photographs I take of products in the game? Is it legal because I take the photo, or would the IP owners of the object being photographed also have to okay its use?

Where is the line drawn? I would not feel the need to ask this question if I took a picture of an IKEA woodgrain desk to use that as a backdrop, but I start to wonder when I take a picture of a matchbox car. Or when I pay homage to inspiration and have the 'Car Wars' manual (Steve Jackson Games originally, now owned by ???) lying next to the track.

[pcdoctor]

I don't know the answer but I'd post this question on answers.yahoo.com to see if you get a response from any lawyers.

[RUSHVision]

I would avoid using a trademarked product. You never know when something like that is going to come back and bite you in the tender bits.

[Saint Benedetta]

Refrain from trademarks. I'm thinking of any form of logo that could be on the car. Maybe photoshop it out. I think that using the toycar itself, once the logos have been photoshopped out, would be alright but you need to check if the actual physical design of the car is a registered design.

Also, make sure that you don't end up "passing off" someone else's product - make sure that whatever design you end up with, it doesn't look like a Mattel advertising campaign..

[mneil]

I like saint B's answer. Using the car is probably fine, but try not to get any of the logo in there. Maybe make a slight mod.


If the game is good, don't know why matchbox would care. But who knows, people seem to care a little too much about that stuff sometimes.