The Meshugana Mug Shot Megillah Pt.2: Trump’s grift off mug shot may violate U.S. copyright laws

 

Above and below are renditions of the Trump mug shot which I created using BeFunky.

Click above to enlarge

Read on single page here.

Here's a continuation of my previous Trump mug shot story. For a story about a picture of a head it sure has legs. 

I address what Dean Obeidallah wrote in the opinion piece below about the chance that the Fulton County Sheriff's Dept. could sue Trump for copyright infringement because of his making money off the use of his mug shot.

Click above to read article which is
 is by Dean Obeidallah who is a lawyer, radio host,
and comedian.

Read my first blog about the mug shot here.

Note: I am not a lawyer, I'm a retired psychotherapist, so any legal opinions here are based on my impression of the law. 

There are three short videos in this blog which I suggest you play.

Trump is notorious for playing music from artists who haven't given him permission to do so. In fact in 2020 22 musicians expressed their desire to have him stop using their musics at events.

Now he is making money off of a law enforcement agency booking photo, aka a mug shot, taken by a sheriff's department. For someone who claims he never heard the term "mug shot" because they never taught about it at Wharton he seems to have learned quickly the economics related to having had one taken of him.

Trump does have a feral instinctual intelligence for figuring out the best way to appeal to his cult. Showman that he is he made the best of the moment as the photographer snapped the shutter when he was being booked. You can't ask for a second chance the way you can when you get your drivers license photo taken. He gave good glower. You can almost hear him growling. Or maybe it's supposed to be a snarl. 

It's  not the MGM lion's roar.

Click above to play

I am sure if he could he would have had a video version of a mug shot where he could roar like the MGM lion or the Tarzan King of the Jungle he fancies himself to be. 

Click above to play

I assume he wants you to hear him vocalizing something as menacing a a wolf warning you of imminent attack:

Click above to play

I rather doubt Dean Obeidallah's pointing out that the Fulton County Sheriff's Department has a reasonable case for initiating a civil suit for monetary compensation for Trump's use of thier mug shot will amount to anything. 

The question of the legality of using the mug shot to make money was address on August 25th in a Spectrum News 1 article by Taylor Bruck here. Like me, she's not a lawyer, but she has done considerable research on this subject. (About her)

Here's an excerpt citing what Betsy Rosenblatt, a professor at Case Western Reserve University’s School of Law, said:

“You're prohibited from using it for a number of things without authorization,” Rosenblatt said. “You’re prohibited from reproducing it, making a derivative work of it, distributing it without authorization, or that is to say distributing anything that isn't the one copy you already lawfully have, and various other things. Making a public display of it, making a public performance of it, which opens up all kinds of fascinating possibilities here.” 

So will the potentially thousands of people who are already using the mugshot to make a profit get in trouble? 

Rosenblatt said in order to pursue a claim for copyright infringement, the owner of the copyright, who she said is likely the Fulton County Sheriff's Department, would have to be the one to sue. 

“Whether the Fulton County Sheriff's Department would decide to enforce its copyright is entirely up to them,” Rosenblatt said. “But it's also reasonable to think that the Fulton County Sheriff's Office might think, you know, this is a public document, it belongs to the world in a way, [the] copyright belongs to us. But the news about it belongs to the world. And we're not going to undertake the expense and trouble of hiring copyright counsel and sending out takedowns and cease and desist and letters, or in lawsuits.”

Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandise? Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandise? 2

Can you legally use Trump’s mugshot on merchandisWWWhile winning presumably would provide the county with much needed funds for jail renovation taking the case to court would require money, obviously with no guarantee they'd prevail in court. 

It would also take a long time to resolve. The best they could hope for might be a cease and desist order to force Trump to stop the mug shot grift. It might even be possible for a judge to order all American companies involved in selling mug shot merch to stop doing so. 

There would be a drawback to a judge ordering a cease and desist in that the more Trump makes from sales of mug shot merch the more money there would be if the sheriff's department ultimately wins.

While I'm not a lawyer my impression is that all things considered in Georgia the powers that be won't bother with a civil suit about Trump grifting off of the mug shot. 

Update: Jonathan Capehart interviewed his Aunt Gloria this morning about how Trump is supposedly gaining street creds with Black voters here.

Of course Jessie Watters above, is an expert on what Black convicted of felonies think about white colar criminals.

Addendum: Here's another mug shot version I made simply by darkening the original: