Monkey See, Monkey Sue: Court Decides Selfie Dispute

SAN FRANCISCO, CA — Naruto, the crested black macaque monkey in Indonesia that snapped adorable selfies of himself on nature photographer David John Slater’s camera and set off a bizarre copyright dispute, has no rights to the images, a federal appeals court said Monday.

Slater owns rights to the image, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said in an opinion that dismisses the lawsuit filed by the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. PETA sued after Slater published the photos in a book, arguing Naruto showed intent when he mugged for the camera and pushed the shutter button.

Macaques are pretty smart and remarkably human-like in their highly social behavior, according to published research. But the U.S. Copyright Act doesn’t extend to them, the San Francisco-based 9th Circuit said, upholding a federal judge’s provisional ruling in 2016.

In his provisional ruling, U.S.District Judge William Orrick said it’s up to Congress and the president to decide if copyright protections should extend to monkeys under the Constitution.

The 9th Circuit agreed.

“Affirming the district court’s dismissal of claims brought by a monkey, the panel held that the animal had constitutional standing but lacked statutory standing to claim copyright infringement of photographs known as the ‘Monkey Selfies,’ ” the court said.

“Our court’s precedent requires us to conclude that the monkey's claim has standing under Article III of the United States Constitution. Nonetheless, we conclude that this monkey — and all animals, since they are not human — lacks statutory standing under the Copyright Act.1 We therefore affirm the judgment of the district court,” panel Judge Carlos Bea said.

Slater and PETA settled the monkey selfie dispute last fall. The agreement called for Slater to donate 25 percent of future revenue from the sale of the photos to conservation groups that protect macaques and their habitat in Indonesia.

The 9th Circuit ruling formalizes a request that the court dismiss the case, which raised the spectre of personhood — that is whether monkeys possess consciousness and, therefore, the right to live their lives autonomously to the fullest extent possible.

“PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for nonhuman animals, a goal that they both support, and they will continue their respective work to achieve this goal,” read a joint statement on PETA’s website.

The lawsuit over the ownership of the photo stemmed from a posting on Wikipedia, which argued the photo couldn’t be copyrighted because an animal took it. Slater asked that it be removed, and PETA backed the monkey.

The monkey selfies are posted on Slater’s website.

Read the court decision:

Photo by Sebastian Duda/Shutterstock