A week-and-a-half ago the world was gifted with a truly wretched image: Donald Trump’s glowering mugshot photo. The pic inspired yuks. It even inspired arousal. And it inspired the Trump campaign to quickly slap the photo onto merchandise and hawk it to a ton of money. But by doing that, the guy who can’t do much right may have once again shot himself in the crotch.
As per Raw Story, SiriusXM radio host Dean Obeidallah penned an op-ed for MSNBC, in which he argues that by selling merch emblazoned with the mugshot, Trump may have violated copyright laws:
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.
Obeidallah points out that mugshots taken for federal criminal cases are considered in the public domain. Those taken as part of state and local proceedings are not. And Trump’s mugshot was taken in Georgia.
While it’s true that the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office did release Trump’s mugshot — and the ones for the 18 other defendants in the Fulton County case — that doesn’t mean anyone has the right to reproduce and sell the image for profit.
In the meantime, Don Jr. is begging MAGA heads not to only buy possibly illegal Trump mugshot merch from him and not from grifters.