3d Warehouse Terms of Use for 3D Smart City

Hello, I am providing commercial services in making 3D Smart City like the image shown.
so I would like to use some of the buildings in 3DWarehouse and put in combination with all the city models we are making.

  • I will adjust textures of 3D Warehouse model I downloaded
  • I will modify the size and geometry of the building

Is this somehow violate the rights for 3DWarehouse??
image

Well, this is an user forum so the legal advice you get from here is rather worthless. Trimble won’t comment. It would be best to show the Warehouse TOS to your lawyer.

I’d say it’s alright to do that. I do it all the time and haven’t been sued yet.

Well, I did asked the company legal department to take a look, but they are useless I would say… taking everything serious and always answer with “maybe” but better not use it.
but you are right, none of us here are really lawyers, and don’t really understand Term of Use from legal perspective. thanks for the answer though.

It seems pretty clear
this is a snippet from the full text on the Terms of Use “General Model License:”:

  1. Authorized Uses

The license to the Models granted above is limited to:

  1. Creating derivative works of Models ( “Creations” ), including by substantially modifying geometry, color, or other attributes of the Models, provided that if you upload any Creation to the 3D Warehouse, you will be a Developer under the 3D Warehouse Terms of Use and such Creation shall constitute a “Model” under the Terms of Use;
  2. Incorporating or including Models and Creations into a larger work or a deliverable for a third party ( “Combined Work” ), provided that the Combined Work includes substantial additional content to the original Model;
  3. Distributing Models, Creations, and Combined Works to third parties for your business purposes (including for commercial purposes);

What you must not do is to claim credit for somebody elses model, or remove their author information.] And you mustnt sell models from the 3d warehouse if you have only made minor alterations (eg if you just open it and change the color.)

what you are making with your city is substantially differnet to the 3d warehouse model
That being said, it woudl be best for you to take the 3d warehouse models and customise them as much as possible; not only will this make your creation better and more unique, it will probably inprove the modeling quality and consistency.

My english is not good enough in terms of reading legal terms. And Chinese legal team are to scared to make any commitment.
Thanks for reply…
From what I read above The license to the Models granted above is limited to: which I am “NOT ALLOW”
I think is clear that I can’t use any model to put inside a digitalized city like the image shown, which voliates the “combined work” and deliver to other business… then not so sure what 3dwarehouse is for you you can’t modify, can’t copy, can’t combine… download just for personal study?

@joeggyy
When it says “limited to” in the section that @AK_SAM is referring to, it means that you are limited to the provisions listed below that sentence.

And give your description of your project, I would say you are good to use the downloaded model.
I say this because, referring to your specific question, a key statement in the General Model License states:

“…includes substantial additional content to the original Model…”

In your model example, you have built out many other buildings and have included a small 3D Warehouse building within it. I would say that’s substantial. Especially given the focus is not on the downloaded building itself.

I AM NOT A LAWYER, but I do have a working knowledge of copyright and licenses since I have negotiated these types of contracts before. So take it or leave it. Given that, and as many have said before, your legal and corporate desire to use the model should only go as far as your employer’s legal team. In short, if the legal team does not want you to use the model, you should listen to them.