I saw this coming, not that you need to be Nostradamus to do so. Yesterday we posted a piece on Trump’s bizarre trolling of Jill Biden by putting her in his Fight! Fight! Fight! *perfume* ad. It was dripping with illegality. Today, a lawyer who specialized in “name, image, likeness law” has chimed in. He says the First Lady should sue Trump for $100 million. I wish she would although that is just going to lead to more legal circus. By the way, anybody ever hear how Trump’s copyright infringement of red soled shoes came out? Because I have not. This is vintage Trump, everything is there for the taking, copyrighted designs, personal likenesses, music, you name it. That’s why he’s left with God Bless the USA and YMCA.
The sale of these fragrances by Trump is utterly humiliating to our country. It’s about as embarrassing as it gets that this individual will be in the White House. It baffles me how and why this behavior is accepted and normalized by corporate media. Then again, this is why corporate media is in a death spiral of its own.
In addition to the disgrace of selling fragrances during the transition period, Trump has decided to willfully and maliciously misappropriate the name, image, and likeness of First Lady Dr. Jill Biden to sell his Trump Fragrances. As part of Trump’s advertising campaign for the Fight Fight Fight Fragrances, he uses an image of himself sitting next to Dr. Jill Biden with the slogan: “A fragrance your enemies can’t resist!”
Here are my new Trump Perfumes & Colognes! I call them Fight, Fight, Fight, because they represent us WINNING. Great Christmas gifts for the family. Go to https://t.co/8O1nm58fxA. Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!
Donald Trump Truth Social 01:11 PM EST 12/08/24… pic.twitter.com/JYamMQeHYr
— Donald J. Trump Posts From His Truth Social (@TrumpDailyPosts) December 8, 2024
In order to successfully sue for violation of publicity rights or misappropriation of name, image, or likeness, a plaintiff must prove four elements to make their claim. To win a right of publicity case, the plaintiff must generally show that the defendant: (1) Used their name, image, or likeness, (2) Did so without consent, (3) Used it for commercial purposes (e.g., advertising, product promotion), and (4) Caused the plaintiff harm or potential economic loss.
A good example of a recent case where a celebrity successfully sued for violation of their name, image, and likeness rights involved a lawsuit filed by the rapper T.I. Harris and his wife, singer-songwriter Tameka “Tiny” Harris.
On September 23, 2024, a California federal jury awarded the couple $71 million in their lawsuit against toy company MGA Entertainment (MGA). The case centered around MGA’s L.O.L. Surprise! O.M.G. line of dolls.
T.I. and Tiny alleged that seven of the dolls in the line misappropriated the name and likeness of a teen pop group Tiny helped create in 2009 called the OMG Girlz. (See National Review, 9/30/24, Leah George, citing MGA Entertainment Inc. v. Harris, U.S. District Court for the Central District of California, No. 2:20-cv-11548.)
Now, back to First Lady Dr. Jill Biden’s potential legal claims against Trump.
Dr. Biden’s legal claim against Donald Trump for violation of her right of publicity is far stronger than the claim by T.I. and Tiny Harris above, where they received $71 million from a jury.
Donald Trump didn’t simply use a photo that resembles Dr. Jill Biden. Trump engaged in the most open, obvious, and egregious violation of Dr. Biden’s publicity rights by using an actual photo of her and adding text to mockingly suggest she endorses the product.
In my opinion, as an expert in this area of law, it’s an open-and-shut slam-dunk case if Dr. Biden chooses to file a lawsuit against Trump. Further, she would almost certainly be entitled to punitive damages, as it’s obvious Trump acted intentionally, wantonly, and maliciously toward Dr. Jill Biden with his misappropriation.
Now the big question is would she do it? I have no idea. My sense of things at this point is that the Bidens want peace and quiet. On the other hand, both Jill and Joe are people of principal and on that basis they might decide to teach the Orange Orangutan a thing or two. To let him off the hook for this would be wrong. But then he’s been let off the hook for everything, so what else would be new? It will be interesting to see where this goes, if anywhere.
yeah sell me another bridge
She doesn’t need either the money or the controversy. Still, it isn’t just a case of Trump trolling her it’s outright bullying and by fighting back Dr. Biden could do some good. How? Troll that sumbitch right back by having the lawsuit make clear any proceeds Trump pays goes to PLANNED PARENTHOOD which is going to see its federal funding axed! There are some other things on the chopping block that would be nice to see Trump have to personally kick in money to (NEA, PBS, and others) but Planned Parenthood is going to need a lot of help in the years ahead and while men get some services from them for women it’s a literal lifeline.
It’s just a thought. However Jill Biden could, if she and the family want to fight this war really put Trump and the GOP on the spot. It could become quite the campaign issue an awful lot of Republicans DON’T want to have to deal with in 2026, especially if Democrats keeping pushing legislation to restore federal funding.
I wonder what was going through Jill’s mind with that smile. Probably something like ‘My god he really DOES stink – glad I don’t have to sit right next to him!’ Or maybe he said something that evoked the old southern gal sentiment of ‘Well bless your heart’ which anyone familiar with that knows is NOT an expression of kindness. No, when some southern gal says that what she’s really saying is some version of ‘just how f**king stupid ARE you?’
I completely agree. That’s the way to handle it. Sue the shit out of Trump and then whatever settlement is reached, give to a designated charity and thumb your nose at him while doing it. Perfect resolution. Whether it will happen or not, who knows, but that’s the way to handle it
Fox should also be sued for saying Trump and First Lady Jill Biden engaged in hevy petting. So distespectful of a fine woman. I hope she sues the shit out of Trump.
Toss in a requirement for Fat Donnie to pay her legal and court costs!
What does this perfume smell like?
To catch the ‘essence of Trump’ ?
Day old diaper leakage, stale urine and day old body odour overlaid with the cheapest most acrid synthetic ‘scent’ ?
The magats will lap it up.
Probably like cheap alcohol with a floral scent. Think of crushing a few roses into Jim Beam and charging two hundred bucks for it and you’re there.
A locker room filled with old, sweaty men who have never used deodorant because UT is somehow unmanly?