Can I use a creative common licensed CC BY 4.0 model in a commercial indie game?

Question

I want to use this keyboard model in my commercial indie game.

The site says the asset is available with a "CC Attribution" licence, linking to the information page for the CC BY 4.0 licence.

From what I understood, you are able to use the creative common asset if you modify it. As the site says:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

As you can see it doesn't say anything about using the Creative Commons asset, which made me wonder if I can actually use it (with credit).

Answer 1

I am not a lawyer and this is not legal advice. What we can help you with here are the game parts of making a game. For aspects relating to law, you should always consult a lawyer.

What I'll do here is simply read to you the text of the page you've already linked, which contains every piece of information you need.

You are free to:

Share — copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format

"Indie game" is included in "any medium or format"

Adapt — remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially.

Building a game that includes this asset is "building upon the material," and "any purpose, even commercially" means you have permission to sell the result.

Under the following terms:

Attribution - You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. You may do so in any reasonable manner, but not in any way that suggests the licensor endorses you or your use.

No additional restrictions — You may not apply legal terms or technological measures that legally restrict others from doing anything the license permits.

So you can't put a licence on your game that forbids players from using the keyboard model in their own projects. (You probably weren't going to anyway)

There are tooltips on the page that clarify how to give appropriate credit:

If supplied, you must provide the name of the creator and attribution parties, a copyright notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material.

Here, you have the name of the creator, Oscar Herry, and a link to the material, so you would be expected to make those available alongside your work that builds on this asset - like in the credits screen of your game. This would also be the place to mention whether you modified the asset, like changing the material or textures to work with your game's style.

Answer 2

As it stands on CC website you are allowed to redistribute it almost however you want including for commercial use. But you have give credit to the person who made it.