Roblox Sues Lamborghini for Copyright Infringement, Prompting Changes from Developers

Roblox game developers are rushing to remove Lamborghini’s models from their games, as the Italian manufacturer recently filed a lawsuit against Roblox. Quite surprising news, as rival brand Ferrari is known to be protective of their assets and is more likely to sue for featuring their vehicles without proper permission.

Roblox is a game platform that also allows users to create their own games, and has steadily risen in popularity since its release in 2006. Despite being disregarded as a Minecraft clone in its beginnings, the game evolved into something of its own, to the point where its relevance in this day and age is almost undeniable. The freedom that it gives to the creators has granted a neat variety of games (which you’ll have to find in the endless amount of tycoon games, of course), which also meant that they were free to use, create, and feature models and assets of real-life items. Most game developers on the platform, specifically those developing driving games, take precautions when including a real model in their games, such as renaming and giving slight alterations to avoid complications with the manufacturer. While this has worked for the most part, it seems that Lamborghini would be the first to file a lawsuit against the company.

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p class=”MsoNormal”>It seems that the Italian companies are taking turns in how protective they were with their cars. Ferrari once filed a lawsuit to popular DJ deadmau5, under the reasoning that the Nyan Cat-wrapped 458 Italia belonging to the music producer was using custom badging that Ferrari did not approve of. Ironically, the DJ did get rid of his 458 in favor of a Lamborghini Huracan, which he wrapped in the same style. Lamborghini couldn’t care about it, but perhaps having their models in a game without their permission is enough to get them in a mood for a lawsuit.

(Images sourced from Lamborghini and Roblox. Pictures of Deadmau5’s ‘Purarri’ and Huracan sourced from Autoweek and The Drive)