Vast amounts of money have always been an easy come, easy go proposition for Donald Trump. He burns through millions like you and I might burn rubber occasionally on a hot street. Supposedly the mugshot/campaign poster which Trump had taken in Georgia the day he was arrested and processed has helped him raise $20 million for legal expenses, some of which was a direct result of the mugshot and mugshot merchandise. Imagine how many ketchup bottles will meet their fate when and if it turns out that the mugshot is actually the legal property of Fulton County, Georgia and doesn’t belong to him? MSNBC:
Politico reported last week that the campaign had raised north of $7 million since the mug shot’s release, “powered” by the sales of merchandise “bearing Trump’s scowling mugshot.”
But as various legal experts have noted, Trump’s sale of that mug shot, taken by the Fulton County sheriff, may violate U.S. copyright laws. This could mean that theoretically, the millions he is making off that photo may rightfully belong to the Fulton County sheriff — an entity that just happens to be in desperate need of funds to address the horrific conditions in the Fulton County Jail.
As a general principle, the owner of a photo’s copyright is the person (or entity) who takes that photo, not its subject. In federal criminal cases, the U.S. government is not permitted to own the copyright to booking photos, so they are considered in the public domain. However, that is generally not the case with mug shots taken in state and local criminal proceedings.
Betsy Rosenblatt, a professor at Case Western Reserve University School of Law, recently explained to Spectrum News 1 Ohio that the copyright owner of Trump’s mug shot is likely the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. Other legal experts support that interpretation, including a 2022 article in the University of Georgia School of Law’s Journal of Intellectual Property Law that noted, “In the context of photographs taken by law enforcement during the booking process, the author of the mugshot photograph is the law enforcement agency.”
OMG. Can you imagine? Can you seriously imagine what Trump is going to do when he hears this? And what makes it more comical still, his campaign made it crystal clear that they were coming after anybody who attempted to make money off the mugshot.
In fact, the Trump campaign itself clearly understands the photo’s commercial value, as evidenced by its recent threat to come after anyone else who wants to use the image to make a profit. Chris LaCivita, one of Trump’s top advisers, made that clear in a post on X (formerly Twitter) that said: “If you are a campaign, PAC, scammer and you try raising money off the mugshot of @realDonaldTrump and you have not received prior permission …WE ARE COMING AFTER YOU you will NOT SCAM DONORS”.
They can’t enforce a copyright that they don’t own. Fulton County could, however. But will Fulton County choose to enforce it? The Sheriff, Pat LaBat has made it clear that he needs cash for improvements to the jail. LaBat told county commissioners, “It’s a human crisis, and I have been begging for the resources,” adding, “I’m really, really tired of begging for money to do my job.” He might not have to beg, if he sues Trump.
That would kill two birds with one stone, give Labat the funding he needs to run a proper facility and it would take the wind out of Trump’s sails, which would be amusing, to say the least.
The law and Lady Karma do seem to be working in tandem to bring one Donald John Trump to justice, don’t you agree.
Fulton county sheriff coming after the $20 million Trump-O made from his copyright infringement of the sheriff’s office’s property……coupled with Jack Smith coming after Trump’s illegally obtained and traded millions in PAC monies……they finally have realized Trump-O’s Achilles heel…….his funding….turn off that spigot, and the funds begin to quickly dry up.
There may be another reason the good Sheriff and Special Prosecutor are coming after the funds……the reports of the Republican Ferengi in the US House and Georgia Legislature suggesting resolutions to withdraw funding for Smith and Willis’ prosecutions…..by seizing these I’ll gotten gains, these monies can be used to actually fund their prosecutions if government funding is withheld.
Wouldn’t that be special??? Trump-O paying for his own prosecution with the funds he grifted from his gullible MAGAt base???
Justice can then be served buffet style….hold the catsup.
*smirk*
Please do not refer to the Republicans as Ferengi.
The Ferengi are a proud species who live by their code of ethics, The Rules of Acquisition. Republicans are spineless worms who can’t even spell ‘ethics’.
Ooooo, I love the smell of snark in the evening…..
My first reaction was this was just too freaking good to be true. Then as I thought about the folks you cited I thought there’s a really good chance Fulton County CAN come after him for the money and boy did that get the wheels in my head turning this morning! Since it would be a civil matter Trump will try (of course) and do all he can to keep a lawsuit from ever getting off the ground, and the first thing would be to avoid service of the papers telling him he was being sued! He’s got minders and even a Secret Service detail to keep Process Servers at bay but how’s it going to look if he gets like that GOPer a$$hat from Alabama that kept running from those trying to serve him? There IS a way that would be pretty foolproof though and it would be funny as hell since it would involve Trump being hoisted on his own “can’t resist some hot gal fawning over me” petard. Yep, a gal could slip a few bucks to a cart girl at the golf course who was moving on from her job and head out there to offer refreshments to Trump’s group. Ask him to sign a copy of his stupid coffee table book and have a copy of the filing inside! With the whole thing being recorded by hidden cameras the look on his face when he hears the words “you’ve been served” would be priceless.
If the Fulton County people were smart, they would copyright the pic before dipshit does. Yes, they probably do own it and everything connected/done to it but copyrighting the image eliminates any and all problems down the road. I would be willing to bet someone in trump’s orbit is at least thinking about this.
It was copyrighted the minute they took the mug shot. The copyright was up in the left top corner of the mugshot, which trumps people eliminated when they wanted to use it to fleece his cult
This should be grounds to sue. Let’s hope they do it and stop him from doing whatever he wants without consequences.
Registering the copyright is necessary to be able to sue for infringement in Federal Court. Evidence of sales by the infringer is useful for establishing the value of potential sales by the copyright holder. Another benefit of registering is the addition of statutory penalties and recovery of attorney’s fees. Removing the copyright notice applied to a copyrighted item adds separate DCMA penalties.
Alex is right, as far sas he goes – even without the watermark Fulton County held the copyright as the photo was taken. The creator of intellectual property holds copyright as soon as the wrok exists (if it was created by an individual for another entity, that entity is legally the creator.) So Fulton County owns the copyright. There is no need to register copyright for it to exist, unlike patents and trademarks. If TFG attempted to register the work for copyright in his name, he would be guilty of copyright infringement for that act itself.
Do not mess with copyright if you don’t know how it works.
So this is why he’s trying to get his trial moved to Federal Court! 🙂
Can’t Fulton County use GA’s Son of Sam Law (GA Code § 17-14-30) preclude Donald Trump from monetizing his ill-gotten mugshot?
Copyright law shoud be sufficient.
Well, it’s like this. I hate to be the one to point this out. You have three black women tying Trumps hair in knots. But now you just might add a black male sheriff to the list of Trumps least favorite people in the world.