BMW lawsuit

This isn't a starting trend. This also happened when 3dstudio was still around ... but they went and pulled ALL models which had any brands on them. I presume it's one reason they eventually vanished. But I have no proof. just guessing.

To be honest we should all expect this to happen. It's only fair that companies like BMW, who have brands that represent the best in their field, would seek to protect and quality control the use of their properties. It's shocking to me that some people are against that and say BMW are just being greedy bullies... to those people i say 'grow up and act like a professional!'

Would you want people using your product in any way shape or form they please without you being involved or without your consent?
I totally agree with base models opinion. BMW built there brand on hard work and dedication and regardless of how much money they have, they earned it and deserves to have a say so in any content that is created in conjunction with there brand. Plus how difficult is it to come up with your own car design, that people will appeal to. I imagine that it might be difficult for most so again they earned it, and for someone to want to piggy back off of your success is a real drag. Lets have some pride about ourselves and be just as creative with our own ideas. I don't think it would kill any anybody to be respectful to other peoples property.

There is no need to be entirely original anyhow. Originality is great of course. But if you really need to trace or benchmark or whatever, making some minor tweaks and avoiding the use of copyrighted logos and such avoids the problem altogether. That said though, if someone wanted to make a beamer for free and allow people to download it just to show off the fact that they can model well enough to make something look so real, then why not? Many sides to this coin.

It takes a lot of work to remake a car, these models will usually be used in media .
So basically BMW is reducing the media coverage of their range by doing this and potentially alienating potential marketers of the product.
Some buyers of this 3d model type would generally be needing it to do "crash" simulations to sub into indie movies.
Others might just add it into a first person shooter to have a larger selection of cars to hide behind and shoot at.
A few might even try to make a crappy 3d print out of it.
I dare say that most of the 3d models for sale would be useless in the hands of other car making companies.
So in closing it looks like there will be less BMW's as a direct result of them "protecting their product".