GT5 photos getting more popular? - The notebook photo story

  • Thread starter Thread starter GTracer98
  • 30 comments
  • 2,532 views
Messages
5,888
Latvia
Vidzeme, Riga
Messages
Driverman447
Messages
None.
Well, here's the thing: I went to a shop to buy a note book and I found one with a Dodge Challenger on it. When I saw it, I instantly felt that something was wrong; the location where the Challenger photo was done seemed familiar, also, the car and the ground textures seemed a bit cartoony to be a real pic.

After a closer inspection I understood: that was a GT5 photo done at Piazza di Gimignano! You might think it's nothing special but I was a bit staggered when I saw that instead of a real life pic they used GT5's. It kinda explains how great GT5 really is.

Here's the shot:


GT5 photo on note book by DocArmor98, on Flickr

Have you seen GT5 photos used in real life?
 
Last edited:
Great find! 👍
 
No, however surely due to its uncredited nature this is plagiarism?
 
I saw an article about Amuse that showed the GT5 photo of the 380RS Superleggerra instead of a real photo. I can understand that a little more since those cars are particularly rare, but it still does show either the influence, or photo quality at least, of the in game photomode.
 
Not sure about that...

Uncredited source with watermarks hidden by boarder, image being used for profit with no permission sought nor given.

I'd say that's plagiarism, not sure what your definition would be.

Interesting however that they've used a fairly "average" photo that has been poorly cropped and a very lazy method used to conceal the watermark with if I may say so a rather horrible colour scheme choice and 'aftermarket modifications' for an otherwise rather nice looking car.. talk about a lack of effort.
 
But if the company that makes these notebooks did their own GT5 pic and put it on the cover, does that still count as using GT5 publicaly without permision?
 
But if the company that makes these notebooks did their own GT5 pic and put it on the cover, does that still count as using GT5 publicaly without permision?

I'd say that is has yet to be litigated but I don't know - so hard to say whether it's breach of intellectual property or not. It's the first I've known of it. Is there anything inside the notebook that has © Polyphony Digital or something similar? If not then be glad you got one while you did - there might be a lawsuit against the stationary company in the future about this.
 
But if the company that makes these notebooks did their own GT5 pic and put it on the cover, does that still count as using GT5 publicaly without permision?

Making profit off ingame assets, it's a tricky one that people such as youtube "Commentators" usually get around via a loop hole that they're contributing in some way, usually with parody or review purposes...

However - this being an entirely kettle of fish I'd say this isn't covered by any of these loop holes, and is simply a screen shot being sold for money - not having a degree in copyright law I cannot say exactly how legally wrong it is but I would certainly argue that it's at least morally wrong, considering no effort was put into its production.

I'd say that is has yet to be litigated but I don't know - so hard to say whether it's breach of intellectual property or not. It's the first I've known of it. Is there anything inside the notebook that has © Polyphony Digital or something similar? If not then be glad you got one while you did - there might be a lawsuit against the stationary company in the future about this.

I doubt it, small operation like that wouldn't be raking in much money, certainly not nearly enough to concern Polyphony nor Sony. No I think these will stay on the shelves as shameless as they are; At least until they stop bothering to stock them.
 
Well, no Polyphony Digital copyright sign in the notebook. But I have to agree with Urie: this isn't a big enough crime. And I kinda doubt that this will get noticed anyway (except that now everyone on GTP can see that but there aren't much Latvians on this site so...)
 
Making profit off ingame assets, it's a tricky one that people such as youtube "Commentators" usually get around via a loop hole that they're contributing in some way, usually with parody or review purposes...

However - this being an entirely kettle of fish I'd say this isn't covered by any of these loop holes, and is simply a screen shot being sold for money - not having a degree in copyright law I cannot say exactly how legally wrong it is but I would certainly argue that it's at least morally wrong, considering no effort was put into its production.



I doubt it, small operation like that wouldn't be raking in much money, certainly not nearly enough to concern Polyphony nor Sony. No I think these will stay on the shelves as shameless as they are; At least until they stop bothering to stock them.

True to the bolded statement.

And the chances of Sony finding out and doing anything about it are rather slim in the least. It's immoral, yes. But a minor infraction at best. Were this someone like Coca-Cola (they wouldn't be daft enough, but let's just say someone big like them) there would a lawsuit. Because I'm assuming this has a limited distribution so the market is not large enough/global enough to be worth pursuing, wasting money on lawsuits for little gain.

But nice find, nonetheless. It is proof enough that GT5 Photomode is actually rather good in showcasing cars in GT5.
 
1801446-subaru_impreza_wrx_sti_gt5_00.jpg

I have this picture on one of my notebooks,the only difference is that Subaru is blue and has some strange heart around it.
It was really obvious that picture is from GT5
 
What a disgusting photo, and what a cheap way of cropping/fitting it on the notebook. Looks very selfmade, and I have a hard time believing this is commercially sold. If I saw that in a shop I would laugh, take a proof picture and spend my money elsewhere...
 
Only 12 santims which equals around 12 p or something - not really worth worrying. :p (yes, it's a very small notebook :D) But yes, I agree, it is quite ugly. The only reason I bought it is because I wanted to show you this.
 
Making profit off ingame assets, it's a tricky one that people such as youtube "Commentators" usually get around via a loop hole that they're contributing in some way, usually with parody or review purposes...

However - this being an entirely kettle of fish I'd say this isn't covered by any of these loop holes, and is simply a screen shot being sold for money - not having a degree in copyright law I cannot say exactly how legally wrong it is but I would certainly argue that it's at least morally wrong, considering no effort was put into its production.



I doubt it, small operation like that wouldn't be raking in much money, certainly not nearly enough to concern Polyphony nor Sony. No I think these will stay on the shelves as shameless as they are; At least until they stop bothering to stock them.

I have to disagree with you here, and its from experience. It doesn't matter if you are making $10.00 or $1,000, if the owner of the photo wants to come after you, they have every legal right to. Trust me on this, I'm speaking from experience here.

And by the way, anyone can make a simple notebook like that. I'm guessing that one was homemade by the looks of it.
 
Making profit off ingame assets, it's a tricky one that people such as youtube "Commentators" usually get around via a loop hole that they're contributing in some way, usually with parody or review purposes...

However - this being an entirely kettle of fish I'd say this isn't covered by any of these loop holes, and is simply a screen shot being sold for money - not having a degree in copyright law I cannot say exactly how legally wrong it is but I would certainly argue that it's at least morally wrong, considering no effort was put into its production.

I too agree with this, although I would say that while the poor production is a terrible disservice to the great abilities of GT5, in my opinion what makes it morally wrong is the fact that no credit was given.

....of course, this was done because, if credit was given, there would be a price to pay.

Maybe I'm being too idealistic, but wouldn't it be nice if PD could just say "Yes, our photo mode is awesome. You used a video game we created to create something tangible. Thank you for giving us credit. Have a nice day"
 
I have to disagree with you here, and its from experience. It doesn't matter if you are making $10.00 or $1,000, if the owner of the photo wants to come after you, they have every legal right to. Trust me on this, I'm speaking from experience here.

And by the way, anyone can make a simple notebook like that. I'm guessing that one was homemade by the looks of it.

Would you not agree that there's a difference between being legally able and it being worth it?
 
Not sure how a photo on a notebook leads to the assumption that GT5 is getting more popular :-/
 
I've seen photos from GT5 used in Carbuzz articles from time to time, only makes sense that eventually you'd find a GT5-sourced photo on a notebook, what with the game being 2.5 years old, there has to be countless photos out there to steal.
 
But if the company that makes these notebooks did their own GT5 pic and put it on the cover, does that still count as using GT5 publicaly without permision?

I would say that it depends how you use the picture and what level of artistic work you put into the picture. If you contributed with a high artistic value you generally have a strong ownership of the picture. In this case it's more or less a photo taken straight from the game by a lazy cover designer and if nothing else they deserve to be sued because of their lack of creativity.

I've seen photos from GT5 used in Carbuzz articles from time to time, only makes sense that eventually you'd find a GT5-sourced photo on a notebook, what with the game being 2.5 years old, there has to be countless photos out there to steal.

Yes, pictures from GT5 are found all over the internet, so the maker of the notebook may not even be aware that it's from a game.
 
Last edited:
Would you not agree that there's a difference between being legally able and it being worth it?

No, I wouldn't. I was making a very small amount of money from the items that I was making. Six companies came after me with cease and desist orders. What I was doing was very similar to that folder. So again, it doesn't matter how much money you are making, they will still come after you. Some companies/people are very protective of their property.
 
Not sure how a photo on a notebook leads to the assumption that GT5 is getting more popular :-/

I think he means that GT5 is becoming more popular in the sense that since the premium cars have the potential to look so real, why not take a photo of a car in game to try and fool people instead of taking a real photo?
 
Maybe should change the Thread name, seems to be misleading...
 
Whoever made that notebook found that pic on the internetz.
dodge_challenger_srt_by_whendt-d4pvz9q.jpg
 
Still a pretty ugly pic... Even if not cropped.
 
Last edited:
Surely they could have found a better picture than that horrible one.
 
C'mon guys, don't be mean :lol: It's not a great picture and it certainly doesn't stick in my mind (At least the original photographer didn't paint it pink) but it's hardly horrible.
 
Back