Jalopnik writes Transformers 4 copied Vengeance Camaro. Isn't this a GA built car?

[Glides]

Are you actually trying to tell me that IF i went and built a replica Jurassic Park Ford Explorer they could sue me?

You are missing the the key point.

No, they could not sue you if you copied it and drove it around. YES they could sue you if you used it in your own movie, or music video, or promoted your business with it. You would get a cease and desist notice from them with a time limit to take whatever they feel you infringed upon down. If you don't, they sue you. THAT is what I keep trying to explain to you but you don't seem to get it.
It's not that they copied it, there is nothing that says they cant. It's that they will trademark HIS car and then use it's image to make themselves money. Whether he has a leg to stand on in a lawsuit, who knows. But the entire point of the thread was that they copied his car, and they did.

You keep falling back to you can't copyright or patent a car. You damn sure can and they will do it. Bumblebee, his car's likeness, will become a licensed trademark of that studio. How can you not see this? EVERY SINGLE Transformers vehicle and likeness is copyrighted and trademarked. Matter of fact, the Jurassic Park vehicle is also licensed and trademarked, wonder how they did that? For someone that claims to know a good bit about patenting and licensing, you are missing a good bit.

All he really has to do is send them a cease and desist and they will contact him. They might tell him to get bent, but I doubt it. It's negative publicity on their movie. If one of showed up on any movie i've worked on, they would take it seriously. It's too much risk for them when they can dump some money on them and make it go away. Motor Trend has gotten involved along with a couple others, so I guess it really doesn't matter what the bean squad on IA thinks.

[Vteckidd]

You keep falling back to you can't copyright or patent a car. You damn sure can and they will do it. Bumblebee, his car's likeness, will become a licensed trademark of that studio. How can you not see this? EVERY SINGLE Transformers vehicle and likeness is copyrighted and trademarked. Matter of fact, the Jurassic Park vehicle is also licensed and trademarked, wonder how they did that? For someone that claims to know a good bit about patenting and licensing, you are missing a good bit.

.

Bumblebee the character as a TRANSFORMER is INDEED copyrighted, NOT THE VW Beetle he was. Although I guarantee SINCE VW created the BEETLE they did have to get permission to use it. Do a little research and youll see the patents and trademarks Hasbro has.

Are you claiming he invented a car?

Wrong, the JP LOGO is copyrighted, not the Explorer itself. you can replicate that exact same explorer all you want, as long as you dont use the logo which is copyrighted.

Vengenace has NO CASE, he has nothing original to sue over nor did he create ANYTHING.

here let me make it more simple:

Michael Bay would have to ask for permission to use a Chevy in his movie, he would not have to ask for permission to use the color BLUE.

the only case, and i mean the .0000001% that Vengeance might have, is if he can somehow find someone willing to make the leap that Chevy Camaro>custom>bumblebee> merchandising rights> profit. He would have to somehow prove that the car is his and only his, no one else can copy it, he has a PATENT on the car and its design as some form of art, and that he has a right to the monetary licensing rights that the movie will produce.

IF that could even happen, ill bet you $1 million dollars the studio chooses a different car or changes something to get around the patent rules.

You are ignoring 1 key factor, HE HAS NO PATENT and a CAR IS NOT ART.

Youre saying i Could go buy a Playstation 3, paint it red, and if someone in a movie uses a red playstation 3 I can claim its mine and i own it. I mean its really ludicrous to claim someone who mods a car by buying other manufactures parts is somehow unique and special.

gimme a break.

[Glides]

Bumblebee the character as a TRANSFORMER is INDEED copyrighted, NOT THE VW Beetle he was. Although I guarantee SINCE VW created the BEETLE they did have to get permission to use it. Do a little research and youll see the patents and trademarks Hasbro has.

Are you claiming he invented a car?

Wrong, the JP LOGO is copyrighted, not the Explorer itself. you can replicate that exact same explorer all you want, as long as you dont use the logo which is copyrighted.

Vengenace has NO CASE, he has nothing original to sue over nor did he create ANYTHING.

here let me make it more simple:

Michael Bay would have to ask for permission to use a Chevy in his movie, he would not have to ask for permission to use the color BLUE.

the only case, and i mean the .0000001% that Vengeance might have, is if he can somehow find someone willing to make the leap that Chevy Camaro>custom>bumblebee> merchandising rights> profit. He would have to somehow prove that the car is his and only his, no one else can copy it, he has a PATENT on the car and its design as some form of art, and that he has a right to the monetary licensing rights that the movie will produce.

IF that could even happen, ill bet you $1 million dollars the studio chooses a different car or changes something to get around the patent rules.

You are ignoring 1 key factor, HE HAS NO PATENT and a CAR IS NOT ART.

Youre saying i Could go buy a Playstation 3, paint it red, and if someone in a movie uses a red playstation 3 I can claim its mine and i own it. I mean its really ludicrous to claim someone who mods a car by buying other manufactures parts is somehow unique and special.

gimme a break.

THANK GOD you understand partly now.

They copied the LIKENESS of his car right down to the same wheels he used. That car is a carbon copy of the likeness of his car...which THEY will now copyright. They will copyright the likeness of his car and make money off of it. Which for all intents and purposes it COPYING his car. Has this sunk in yet? It's your words man, not mine. I don't know why you are beating around this dead horse.

Buddy, Michael Bay has about a million other things on his mind other than researching how to come up with the perfect restomod Bumblebee. Things like turning a 21 year old girl in to a vegetable in a stunt gone wrong, or his assistant having a heart attack at his feet during filming. He leaves the finding of the cars up to his people in his art department do for him. Once they have ideas, he picks it. How long do you think a movie takes to film? From green light to pre-production to filming to post production to release? Things like picture cars are left to a designer who prints out photos of pre-existing cars and then they choose. They will modify them if they aren't exactly what they want, which in this case, the car was exactly what they wanted.

And the answer to your question about Bay coming up with the design....I highly doubt it. Nobody in this entire thread has shown a photo of another Camaro that is an exact copy of his. We get photos of a car with one thing, or a car with another. If it's so easy to come up with it, there should be hundreds of them. Not to mention the production company called up the exact same wheel manufacturer and ordered the exact same wheels with the exact same measurements when Totems were the only ones in existence with those specifications. His wheel manufacturer called him when the production called them to order the wheels. Asked for the ones on the Vengeance car. There is SO much more that you don't know about this thing. That is why it is so ironic that you are arguing so hard against it. You could just wish the guy luck and call it a day, but not you...oh no. It's to the mats for ol Vteckidd...as always.

Let's look at other cars what are trademarked.
The Monkeymobile, the Munstermobile, Dragula, The batmobile (All versions even back to the 40's which was a production car), Mad Max's Falcon XB, The Jurassic Park Exlorer, The Fast and Furious vehicles and many many more. They are all trademarked. Not the CAR, but the likeness of the car. That way the production companies can give out a licensing right to say...Mattel Toys, to make little toys of them you can put on your desk at work, each and every one of the Monster trucks that compete, Nascars, Formula one cars...the list goes on and on. Copy one of those and try to use it to make money. Lawsuit. A car most certainly is art. Some of the ones above are full out customs, some aren't. The Mad Max car is a complete bolt on car, I have a build sheet for it. No custom parts about it. So If you don't think the can be trademarked, use your skills and copy one, promote your business with it and see what happens.

As for waivers, I know now that you know nothing about the film industry. EVERYTHING already has waivers. You stick to building cars Kidd, you are pretty good at it. The film industry is out to do one thing and one thing only, separate you from any dollars you have in your pockets. Also, how in the world does a frivolous lawsuit make me any less of a car guy. That one was pretty far reaching there Vtec. Especially when all I have tried to do in this thread was enlighten you on how the film industry works and I was sticking up for a car guy. It's you who has tried at every turn to tear him down, tear his car down and make it all look like he was a greedy kid right up to having to eat crow earlier in the thread say you were trying to do that. Get real Kidd.

Anyway, i'm out. It was an enlightening discussion as always on Import Atlanta. Good luck all of ya.

[Vteckidd]

you realize there are 1000s of BUMBLEBEE colored camaros that you CANNOT sue over, there is no infringement. However, if you called your car Bumblebee and displayed a non paid for Autobots logo, you COULD be sued as the Character Bumblebee and the Logo are copyrighted/trademarked.

You have to ask yourself, could Michael Bay have come up with the design of this camaro WITHOUT ever seeing Vengeances car, I think the answer is YES.

So if i buy a CRX, paint it red, I can now sue anyone who uses a Red CRX in a movie if they attempt to monetize it? I think the issue everyone misses is that the character Bumblebee is trademarked not the car. If yo ucan point me to a case where someone sued or sent a cease and desist letter over a car that was styled the same, id love to see it. I doubt it exists.

Maybe youre right, maybe the studio would just pay him off to be over it, I liken it to ambulance chasing. the more you extort people over frivolous lawsuits, the less of a "car guy" i think you really are. It just ensures that in the future, studios will make you sign 100930292002s of pages of waivers to use a car, driving the cost of movie tickets up :P

my point has been made, i really have nothing else to add to the conversation.