If you want to make a video game that contains real world products, you generally need to obtain permission from the company that makes that product to include it in your game.
For example, if you want to include real world cars in your racing video game, you need permission from whoever manufactures it.
In contrast, if you're writing a news article, you can use images of that car without having to talk with the manufacturer.
If I took hundreds of pictures of a car from every angle and stitched them all together with some software, I could make some kind of pseudo 3D experience where I can view the car from any angle I want (kind of like how Google Maps Street View works - they stitch together a lot of 2D images to create a pseudo 3D experience).
I think stitching those hundreds of pictures together is legal without permission (why wouldn't it be?) so my question is: what is the difference between including the model in the game or just having that pseudo 3D experience? What is the defining line that says one requires permission while the other doesn't?
(Ultimately my goal is to write a program which allows you to see what different paint jobs would look like on real cars. My concern is whether this would be more like the video game, and so require permission from the manufacturer, or if it's more like the news article, and so it doesn't.)
