Peta files lawsuit asserting macaque monkeys right to selfie copyright
Animal rights campaign group Peta has filed a landmark legal bid to assert the rights of a macaque monkey to own the copyright to a series of viral selfies snapped by the creature after it was handed a camera.
A lawsuit filed in San Francisco states that Naruto, a six year old monkey, should be considered the owner of the images despite being unconscious of the concept of photography.
The dispute centres on photographer David Slater, who owns the copyright as under both English and US copyright law pictures taken by animals cannot be registered. As the camera owner at the time the pictures were taken on an Indonesian reserve back in 2011 the copyright has thus been attributed to Slater.
Taking issue with this reading of the rules Peta lawyer Jeffrey Kerr said: “The act grants copyright to authors of original works, with no limit on species. Copyright law is clear: it’s not the person who owns the camera, it’s the being who took the photograph.”
Kerr concluded that Naruto “authored the monkey selfies by his own independent, autonomous actions.”
Slater accuses Peta of mischievous monkey business however, pointing out that Naruto simply pressed a button on a pre-set up camera on a tripod.