Vehicle Licensing.

[ewg68]

Maybe someone out there, wiser and more knowledgable than I, may be able to shed some light on the whole vehicle licensing situation. While at some level I understand why a company would want to license their product's name in order for it to appear in a video game and protect it's integrity, I don't understand why it appears to require a new license for each product model. I mean SCS obviously aquired licensing for the Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks currently in the game from PACCAR, but why would the license not apply to any Peterbilt or Kenworth product model? You would think that once you recieved a license for the two brands you could use any of their vehicles in the game. Just wondering.

[SmilesLikeJoker]

It's just whatever they agree upon at the moment. It's all legal stuff. If they say only this truck at the moment, then SCS can only use the one truck.

The companies own the trademark. It's their way or the highway kinda situation.

[spe.bonne]

I wondered the same at some time but since I'm dealing with trademark agreements at work I got a new view of it.
While its true they got the agreement for the brand name already (well I think anyway) they probably only have the trademark agreement for the registered model name and not for all of them. Its a current thing to protect communication and information given by a 3rd party.
At the same time in my company (as many do too) for each new marketing agreement on a product licence... a validation from the owner of the registered product is required for any representation in a new product. So maybe SCS only got those 2 models validated and the others will come soon as it would mean they got to work on each truck model and get them through validation process every time.

[ewg68]

Thank you all for the responses. My mind is always racing and I like understanding things that I'm not clear on. Keep on trucking! *I hope with the Kenworth license we get to see the T660 and especially the T800 for heavy and outsized hauling!

[Uzi [OTG]]

I'd rather just load mod models than wait for SCS to finally get the truck companies
lawyers to move on this.
Go to SCS forum and look in ATS mods section.
Find Peterbilt 389 by Viper (beta 1.11 as of this post). Enjoy
There are other mod trucks listed there as well.
In my game I also have T800 long I can dabble with, among a few
others I've not driven yet but that I do load in game.

[ewg68]

Originally posted by Uzi OTG:

I'd rather just load mod models than wait for SCS to finally get the truck companies
lawyers to move on this.
Go to SCS forum and look in ATS mods section.
Find Peterbilt 389 by Viper (beta 1.11 as of this post). Enjoy
There are other mod trucks listed there as well.
In my game I also have T800 long I can dabble with, among a few
others I've not driven yet but that I do load in game.

Thanks for the input. Where is this SCS forum..here on Steam or SCS's website?

[TwinShadow]

SCS Software Forums[forum.scssoft.com]

spe.bonne is pretty much spot on. The brand is one thing to obtain, but its a completely different thing when it comes to the actual specific models of trucks themselves as those have design patents registered at the USPTO, which all require separate agreements for. Its annoying, but that's how it works for now. That's why the other models from Kenworth and Peterbilt are currently not in the game, but hopefully with the success, both companies will agree and let SCS get them out quickly, which in turn, allows others such as Volvo, Freightliner, Mack (hopefully), International, etc... to allow SCS use their trucks in the game as well.

[ewg68]

Originally posted by TwinShadow:

SCS Software Forums[forum.scssoft.com]

spe.bonne is pretty much spot on. The brand is one thing to obtain, but its a completely different thing when it comes to the actual specific models of trucks themselves as those have design patents registered at the USPTO, which all require separate agreements for. Its annoying, but that's how it works for now. That's why the other models from Kenworth and Peterbilt are currently not in the game, but hopefully with the success, both companies will agree and let SCS get them out quickly, which in turn, allows others such as Volvo, Freightliner, Mack (hopefully), International, etc... to allow SCS use their trucks in the game as well.

Thank you for taking the time to respond with what appears to be some knowledge on the subject!

[lotw_1]

Every company that own a product, owns the rights to it, so you cannot use it in anything without their permission. There are some loopholes and such. Game companies have to contact Ford (for instance) if they plan on putting any vehicles with the FORD logo or name on them. Some companies are pretty nice about it, others like Porsche are not. Some want money, which to me is just lame since its free advertising.. But Trademarks do that to companies.

If I was a game dev, I would put fake things in like they did in this game for everything, screw the Trademark idiots. I would never pay them for the advertising I am giving them...In fact they should pay me. They pay for time on TV with ads, they pay for billboards, they pay for signs at events, why dont they pay video game companies for being in their video game???

[MillerMi10]

Originally posted by lotw_1:

Every company that own a product, owns the rights to it, so you cannot use it in anything without their permission. There are some loopholes and such. Game companies have to contact Ford (for instance) if they plan on putting any vehicles with the FORD logo or name on them. Some companies are pretty nice about it, others like Porsche are not. Some want money, which to me is just lame since its free advertising.. But Trademarks do that to companies.

If I was a game dev, I would put fake things in like they did in this game for everything, screw the Trademark idiots. I would never pay them for the advertising I am giving them...In fact they should pay me. They pay for time on TV with ads, they pay for billboards, they pay for signs at events, why dont they pay video game companies for being in their video game???

Except mod authors :) They use it without permission right?

[Wolfpig]

Originally posted by MillerMi10 ENG:

Except mod authors :) They use it without permission right?

In most cases, yes.
But as far as they do not make any money out of those mods most companys ignore that (if they have the knowledge about such mods).

[kewldude_001]

Another point to add is that Paccar Group is wanting to see the numbers on this before they go futher. They want to seei s how popular this game will be with their brand in it, and what it might do for their company in real life for drivers and companies to go and buy their trucks. Yes it is an advertisment of sorts.

So if you want to help ensure we will see your faviorte truck come to ATS then maybe get your friends together and voice it on their Facebook and Twitter. They get enough people commenting then they will have no other choice of either licensing more trucks or giving a good reason why its not in their interest and possibly upsetting their real life truck owners and their company taking a large hit on sales. The power of social media.

[lotw_1]

Originally posted by kewldude_001:

Another point to add is that Paccar Group is wanting to see the numbers on this before they go futher. They want to seei s how popular this game will be with their brand in it, and what it might do for their company in real life for drivers and companies to go and buy their trucks. Yes it is an advertisment of sorts.

So if you want to help ensure we will see your faviorte truck come to ATS then maybe get your friends together and voice it on their Facebook and Twitter. They get enough people commenting then they will have no other choice of either licensing more trucks or giving a good reason why its not in their interest and possibly upsetting their real life truck owners and their company taking a large hit on sales. The power of social media.

Well I bought it and I am having fun with it, but that being said lots of thing wrong with it and I couldnt recommend it to every one. Traffic, signs, lights, cut roads, etc hurt the game pretty bad....No wonder Nevada has like 5 places to go...

[Aper]

The reason you only have their most recent models is simply to promote them, same as any car or truck dealers in the World.

It's all about visibility and promotion.

[Yoshida]

Simple Answer which has proly already been said....

SCS makes profit off ATS, if SCS were to start throwing truck brands and truck models into ATS left n right w/o those companys permissions your looking at a situation where not only would SCS get sued to hell by multiple truck manufacturers but they would also call for ATS to be removed from the market completely.

Which in the end would ultimatly ruin SCS's image, that theyve worked so hard to build and any hope for us to play another truck sim ever again =.= at least by SCS that is. That is why they are doing the best they can and the most legal way possible to brings us more trucks.

Sadly it all goes down to the manufacturers themselfs. It is ultimatly their say, if they say no, theres nothing SCS can rly do but wait and then try to re-present the idea to them again and see if their impressed. It may take a long time for us to get every major truck brand in the game. But this is just how it has to happen. If im not mistaken ETS2 had similar problem when it launched but idr.

[Willow Rivers]

Originally posted by Yoshida:

Simple Answer which has proly already been said....


Sadly it all goes down to the manufacturers themselfs. It is ultimatly their say, if they say no, theres nothing SCS can rly do but wait and then try to re-present the idea to them again and see if their impressed. It may take a long time for us to get every major truck brand in the game. But this is just how it has to happen. If im not mistaken ETS2 had similar problem when it launched but idr.

Yup they launched ETS2 with fake brands which the companies did not like at all, one reason it took them so long to get the real truck brand into the game to replace the fake ones. Mercendes was just recently added replacing Majestic. Took them years to convince them.