Donald Trump made millions selling merchandise using his historic mugshot, but a legal expert says he may have violated copyright law
Former President donald trumpUsing his historic mugshot on merchandise could potentially land him in legal trouble, according to a report.
Last month was Trump booked in the Fulton County Jail in Atlanta, Georgia, after being charged with racketeering in connection with his alleged attempt to overturn and interfere with the 2020 presidential election. Eighteen of his allies, including Rudy Guiliani, were also there accused.
After the announcement that the group was expected to surrender by August 25, social media waited for the mugshots on their timelines. After Trump took his photo – making him the first US president to take a mugshot – he shared it on X, formerly Twitter.
“Election interference,” he wrote after a long break from the podium. “Never give up.”
Shortly after he left prison, Trump’s campaign began selling merchandise featuring his booking photo, including T-shirts and mugs, among other items, CBS News reported, a move that has helped him amass millions.
Others also took advantage of the opportunity and began selling mugshot merchandise on online marketplaces like Amazon and Etsy. However, a legal expert and professor at Case Western Reserve University told Spectrum News advises that this is a potential copyright infringement.
“You are prohibited from using it for a number of things without permission,” Betsy Rosenblatt said. “You are prohibited from reproducing it, making a derivative work of it, distributing it without permission, that is, distributing anything that is not the only copy you already legally have, and various other things. A public display, a public performance of it opens up all sorts of fascinating possibilities,” the expert continued.
As Rosenblatt explained, the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, which owns the copyright, would have to decide whether to take legal action against Trump and others who profit from the image.
“But it’s also reasonable to assume that the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office might think that this is a public document, it belongs to the world in some sense. [the] We own the copyright,” Rosenblatt told Spectrum. “But the news about this belongs to the world. And we will not go to the expense and trouble of hiring a copyright attorney and sending takedowns, cease and desist letters, or filing lawsuits.”
