PETA Sues for Rights to Photo of Monkey Selfie
An unusual lawsuit was filed on Tuesday by Animal rights group PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), who claim a macaque monkey who took a now infamous selfie, should own copyright to the photo.
David Slater’s photo. Image Credit: Open.Michigan (Flickr)
As the Guardian reports, PETA claims the monkey who snapped the shot should own the copyright, with all proceeds going to the preservation of macaque’s in the wild.
The photo was taken when a British nature photographer left his camera unattended on an Indonesian island reserve in 2011. It has since been widely distributed, with the contention that no one owns the copyright as an animal took the photo.
Jeffery Kerr, a lawyer for PETA says of the US Copyright Act:
“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.”
The photographer, David Slater says he is saddened by the case, as he is an advocate for animal rights. He says the British copyright he obtained for his photo by his company Wildlife Personalities Ltd., should be honored worldwide.
See the full story here.
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