News - 17 January 2023 10:00

Donald Trump accused of using copyright-protected images in his NFT collection

Former US president Donald Trump has been accused of using copyright-protected photos in his NFT collection, with social media users calling his money-making endeavor a "scam".

Last month, Trump launched 45,000 photos as an NFT collection called ‘Collect Trump Cards’, or ‘Trump Digital Trading Cards’ as it’s officially known on OpenSea.

The collection, which depicts him as various characters such as a superhero, an astronaut, and a cowboy, was priced at US$99 a pop and sold out quickly.

However, many users on Twitter pointed out copyright infringement possibilities as Trump’s head was edited onto images found on the websites of small apparel businesses, stock images or even clothing available on Amazon and Walmart.

According to Matthew Sheffield, a journalist for The Young Turks, Trump's NFT depicting him as a cowboy might have been altered from an Amazon advertisement for a "Scully Men's Duster" jacket.

Another person on social media questioned Trump's use of a photograph of the former president playing golf that was shot by one of Reuters' photographers.

Another design, where Trump is dressed like a fighter pilot, was allegedly taken from a Shutterstock image.

Several Twitter users think that he could face legal action for copyright infringement over his NFTs.

“Using another company’s photos and unpaid stock images to create an image for profit is considered copyright infringement,” one person tweeted.

According to the FAQ section on CollectTrumpCards.com, the images were created by illustrator Clark Mitchell, who has created illustrations for numerous well-known companies.

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