Best advice, if your unclear of the source of a model, texture, sound or any other outsourced game asset. Don't use it.

Actually if this model is part of a games Intelectual Property (IP), you couldn't use it just by switching the skin or changing the verts or indeed modifying it in any way. Any use would be a considerable legal infringment and this will be extensivly covered in all materials released with the original product/title.

Of course how could you be expected to know all assets from all products? You can't, so this is why asset generation is usually commissioned work, to be certain of the legalities.

Contracts with any outsource firm would include legal disclaimers that would protect you in the event of an IP infringment or blatent theft of content (as is claimed in this thread - I don't play WoW so can only say it looks just like their style).

However use of these assets internally, i.e without ever showing them as part of your product publicly, is quite common. Internally, grabbing content from the likes of google sketch up, to use to show ideas internally is a regular accurance, still I am not entirely sure of the legalities of this. The point is no one ever see's them outside of the company, so I guess it doesn't matter...

IP and standard copyright infringment is going to alwas be a big problem facing indi-developers, bottom line, we dont have the money to commision much work...

Hope that is not over-informative