A Company I Interviewed With Is Listing Me As A "senior Advisor" On Its Website And Sales Deck. I Have Never Worked For Them.

location: California

In May I interviewed three times with a small software company for an operations role. I eventually withdrew because we couldn't agree on compensation. I never signed an employment agreement, consulting agreement, NDA, offer letter, or anything else with them.

Yesterday someone I know in the industry sent me a screenshot and asked when I'd started working there.

The company's website had my full name, my LinkedIn photo and a short bio under "Our Advisory Team." The bio was clearly built from my resume/LinkedIn and described me as a "Senior Advisor."

I then Googled my name plus the company and found a PDF sales deck on their own domain. It has my photo again, lists some of my actual previous employers, and says their clients "benefit from the experience of our advisory network." There is also a quote under my picture that I never said.

I emailed the founder asking them to remove everything immediately.

He responded that they didn't claim I was an employee, that "advisor" is a broad term, and that my photo and professional background were already public on LinkedIn. He removed me from the website after that email, but the sales PDF is still accessible and he has not confirmed whether it was already sent to prospective customers.

Today a stranger emailed me through my actual employer asking if I could introduce him to this company because he had seen me in their materials.

Can a California company legally use my name/photo in advertising or sales material without permission just because the information was publicly available online?

Does it matter that they're presenting me as affiliated with the company rather than simply mentioning me?

And if I haven't lost money from this yet, do I still have any legal remedy beyond asking them to take it down?