Monkeys Can't Own Selfie Copyrights; Or Can They? Appeals Court To Decide

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Naruto, the Indonesian macaque monkey that — or who, depending on what side of a looming argument you fall on — snapped the selfie that set off a bizarre copyright infringement case is getting another day in court. The animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals has asked the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review a federal judge’s earlier decision holding that Naruto doesn’t have rights to the photo because the U.S. Copyright Act doesn’t extend to the animal kingdom.

When it comes to monkeys, the highly social crested black macaques are pretty smart, and PETA has argued that Naruto showed intent when he mugged for the camera and pushed the shutter button. But U.S. District Judge William Orrick, who dismissed PETA’s lawsuit against wildlife photographer David Slater, who sold the photo, said in his January 2016 ruling that it’s up to Congress and the president to decide if copyright protections should extend to monkeys under the Constitution.

That would move what PETA has dubbed a “monkey see, monkey sue” case from a copyright dispute to the more contentious question of personhood — that is whether monkeys possess consciousness and, therefore, the right to live their lives autonomously to the fullest extent possible. (For more local news, click here for real-time news alerts and newsletters from San Francisco Patch, or click here to find your local California Patch. Also, if you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

PETA lawyer Jeff Kerr says the dispute comes down to whether Naruto should be the owner of the copyright rather than be seen as a piece of property himself, NPR reported.

“This case is exposing the hypocrisy of those who exploit animals for their own gain,” Kerr said.

In a statement issued before Wednesday’s request for a 9th Circuit review, Kerr said the law should adapt to advancements in science and technology.

“There is nothing in the Copyright Act limiting ownership based on species, and PETA is asking for an interpretation of the act that acknowledges today’s scientific consensus that macaque monkeys can create an original work,” he said.

Photographer Gave Monkeys A Button To Push

Slater spent several days in Indonesia following a troop of crested black macaques in 2011 and became a trusted member of the group. They touched and groomed him and seemed interested in his camera, so he set up a tripod, framed the shot and let the smart monkeys figure out for themselves what to do.

“All you've got to do is give the monkey the button to press and, lo and behold, you got the picture,” Slater told International Public Radio.

The internet swooned over the monkey selfie, of course, and Slater published it extensively. It eventually made the way to Wikipedia, where the publishers argued it’s in the public domain because the copyright goes to whoever pressed the shutter button, in this case Naruto. Works “produced by nature, animals, or plants” can’t be granted copyright protection, the U.S. Copyright Office said in 2014.

Who is right here? Should a monkey be protected under the Copyright Act, or does the photo belong to David Slater? Tell us what you think in the comments.

In a statement to International Public Radio, Wikipedia spokeswoman Katherine Maher said no one owns the copyright to the monkey selfie.

'It’s A Rights Grab'

Slater says that argument is nonsense. If his human assistant had pushed the shutter button, the copyright would be Slater’s, he argues. He told International Public Radio that Wikipedia is “just punting their opinion around,” that the position isn’t based on facts and that the position potentially affects other photographers.

“It’s a rights grab,” he said. “And not just on my images but, I believe, on many other photographers’ images.”

Slater has a British copyright to the monkey selfie, and he said that should be honored worldwide, NPR reported.

The legal wrangling over the photo accelerated in 2015 when PETA sued the photographer on behalf of the macaque monkey.

“I’m not the person to weigh into this,” he said, according to an account on Ars Technica. “This is an issue for Congress and the president. If they think animals should have the right of copyright they’re free, I think, under the Constitution, to do that.”

As rights to the photo take center stage, the situation for the critically endangered crested black macaque monkeys is increasingly dire. The black, amber-eyed monkeys are aggressively hunted as a meat species in Indonesia, according to Yaki, a foundation that campaigns to protect the primate, AFP-JIJI reported.

Macaque meat is especially prized among the largely Christian group of ethnic Minahasan people living in the world’s most populous Muslim-majority nation. It is reportedly hot and spicy, similar to wild boar or dog.

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Photo by David Slater via Wikipedia/Public Domain