Fulton County owns Trump mugshot

[Bob Blaylock]

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. Fulton County Georgia is state - not federal.

An individual owns the commercial rights to his likeness, image, and identity.

A photographer taking a picture of an individual, who intends to use that photograph for commercial gain, is required to obtain a signed model release from that individual; wherein the individual give license to the photographer to make such use.

Try printing and selling t-shirts with Marilyn Monroe's image on them. That ought to be safe, right? She's been dead, now, for over sixty years.

Try it, and see what happens when the lawyers managing her estate find out.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

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. Fulton County Georgia is state - not federal.

How about you just STFU?
The topic is a joke and mug shots are shown all the time to the general public.
If that were illegal we'd have heard about it many times before now.

 

[Lakhota]

Other than Trump - has anyone else ever tried to monetize their mugshot?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

As a general principle, the copyright of a photo belongs to the person taking the photo. This is the paparazzi protection for photos they take. As long as those photos are taken in a public place. A booking room is not a public place. The taker of this photo is not protected by copyright.

There's a hazy, but important line between news reporting, and commercial use.

Publishing a photograph of someone in a medium that is deemed a “news source” is allowed, personality rights notwithstanding. Printing and selling t-shirts or other merchandise for commercial gain, is subject to the personality rights of any and all individuals recognizably depicted therein.

 

[HereWeGoAgain]

Other than Trump - has anyone else ever tried to monetize their mugshot?

Nah...it's usually democrats in mugshots and they're not smart enough or important enough.

 

[EvilCat Breath]

Trump told the world what he was going to do as soon as his mugshot was taken. These black women that day dreamed about humiliating Trump deserve what they get. Trump probably practiced for hours to get that scowl of triumph just right.

 

[1srelluc]

Other than Trump - has anyone else ever tried to monetize their mugshot?

Just sayin'.

 

[Foolardi]

View attachment 824848

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. Fulton County Georgia is state - not federal.

Will they sue him for all the money he made off it so far - and any future earnings?

The lackey-assed dimwit who thought up that drool
seems to forget that Donald Trump no longer serves in any
Government capacity.
He's a private citizen afforded the free reign of constitutional
rights.So it's okey dokey for drat Dimocrats to smear Trump
incessantly over just about anything.If he winks at a beautiful
butterfly after he tees off with his new driver.
You name it.

 

[Foolardi]

Trump told the world what he was going to do as soon as his mugshot was taken. These black women that day dreamed about humiliating Trump deserve what they get. Trump probably practiced for hours to get that scowl of triumph just right.

You got like an actual Trump quote to that effect.
Or are we back to howling at the moon like crazed
hobgoblins over anything Trump Might say.

 

[Foolardi]

Just sayin'.

Um ... Number 3 mugshot could be either Lee Harvey Oswald
at a Halloween party disguised as Frankie Boy Sinatra or
maybe Frankie boy in normal morning mode after too many
Jack Danniels.I'll niver understand why he adopted some
southern mash whisky.Most Italians drank regular scotch like
J & B .

 

[bodecea]

And once they posted it publicly, they don’t own it.

 

[Thunk]

By a “gimme dat” that doesn't know shit about copyright laws or personality rights; and who yet feels qualified to school those of us who do know these things.

Do you really thunk that Fulton County applies for a copyright for each mugshot they take?

I'd like to see it...ON PAPER! With an official seal embossed on it.

 

[Freedomisneverfree]

They posted his mugshot to humiliate him. This is the "peoples mugshot" it belongs to all of us and had he not made any money with his savvy business sense, they would have just MOCKED him by saying "Here is your picture of a criminal" but since America is on the side of President Trump and in his corner, then Georgia must feel there is money to be had and they are financially in the dumps. What about the millions of people who made his tshirts and pocketed the money, do they all need to give Fulton Country every dime they made too?

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Do you really thunk [sic] that Fulton County applies for a copyright for each mugshot they take?
I'd like to see it...ON PAPER! With an official seal embossed on it.

I know it solidly applies at the federal level; I'm not sure how far it applies at more local levels of government, but at the federal level, government cannot claim a copyright on any content that it produces. Any content created by the federal government is automatically public-domain unless it is derivative from and includes copyrighted content from private producers.

I imagine that a similar principle probably applies at state, county, and lower levels as well.

In any event, even if content is copyrighted by the one who produced it, which contains a recognizable image or identity of an individual, the individual still owns the commercial rights to that image, and the copyright holder cannot make commercial use of that content without a signed release from the individual whose image or identity is depicted therein.

Model release - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Bob Blaylock]

Do you really thunk [sic] that Fulton County applies for a copyright for each mugshot they take?

And by the way, it is not strictly necessary to register a copyright. A copyright automatically applies to any creative work, from its creation, regardless of whether the creator thereof takes any action to register it with any agency. Registering it gives a more solid foundation to any legal action that may later be taken in trying to enforce that copyright.

 

[Bob Blaylock]

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. Fulton County Georgia is state - not federal.

Will they sue him for all the money he made off it so far - and any future earnings?

I note that Georgia is one of the states in which personality rights are specifically recognized by law.

So, more so than in Georgia, as opposed to in other states that may not explicitly recognize personality rights, Mr. Trump retains full and exclusive ownership of the right to use his image and identity, as depicted here, for commercial gain.

If the state of Georgia, or Fulton County, was to produce and sell t-shirts or other merchandise for commercial gain, using this mugshot, Trump would be fully entitled to sue them for illegally exploiting his image and identity, and he would win. And the state and the county cannot legally do shit to stop Trump from making similar use of his own image and identity. If they try to sue him, he can countersue for barratry. Looks like Georgia is a loser-pays state, which means that in that case, Trump would also be able to sue the state or county to recover his legal fees.