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This is pretty clear copyright infringement. Whoever took the picture owns the copyright.

Being a public figure would matter if this were a first amendment free speech issue, but it's not. It's just a plain violation of the Lanham Act, both due to the copyright infringement (17 U.S.C. §§ 101 et seq) and because of the false advertising claim (15 U.S.C. § 1125(a)(1)(B)) you could make because of the impression that the person endorses the ad (but I'm not a lawyer, for the record). So no, it's not legal, and illegal acts should not be allowed by any company's terms of service.

It's also ironic given how Facebook got its start (i.e. Facemash), which was by misusing photos copyrighted by Harvard.



But doesn't Facebook claim ownership of the copyright if you upload a photo to its site?



Ignoring the other answers about the legal aspect: He _didn't_ upload that picture to Facebook anyway.

The article states, that this was the cover picture of one of his books.


He doesn't say that it wasn't uploaded to Facebook, he says it wasn't a profile picture.

I would think this was a nitpick, except he specifically said "not a profile picture" so my guess is he did upload it to Facebook.


I don't know. But it doesn't matter. It's an AppSumo ad.


How could they? He says clearly that the copyright is held by a photographer - not him self.




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