David J. Slater is the photographer who set up a monkey selfie shot (in 2011) and when it became a meme, requested Wikipedia to remove the monkey selfie with a DCMA letter. Wiki said, sorry but the photo is uncopyrightable since current law says
“The term ‘authorship’ implies that, for a work to be copyrightable, it must owe its origin to a human being. Materials produced solely by nature, by plants, or by animals are not copyrightable.” – Copyright Compendium 202.02 b and c
So…the pics were obviously in the public domain…since even though he set up the picture, the monkey pushed the button.
But now? “PETA Strikes Back”, or rather, “Naruto Strikes Back”. They say his name is Naruto. Their lawyers actually filed (where else? San Francisco) a brief {irony: Check Sources number 2} defending the lawsuit which the lawyers actually claim is legit (in my eyes, the lawyers have ceased to be legit). You can see it here. It boils down to “Well, someone has to own it and it should be the monkey.” Lawyers having fun at the public expense. How about the Judge fining them $2 million for their PETA paid for publicity stunt? Never mind that Slater has been changing his story to expand his role in the idiotic photo. But the thought “There has to be a copyright and someone must hold it” is also wrong. The law actually says that photos/art created by humans or animals can be in the public domain and that therefore no one owns them.
Enough of this battle to entitle animals to stuff they aren’t entitled to from the get go. They have a right to some dignity, after all. What self respecting monkey, or other animal for that matter, would want to be a paparazzo?
How about this: Leave the animals alone where they live. Don’t destroy their environment: No amount of cosmetics justify destroying the world (it isn’t just where THEY live: It’s one planet). Go there and kill only time, and take only pictures (or paint, I don’t care). Then leave. Sell the pictures or not. The animals will have won, and so will we.
Now can we actually: 1) Defeat Daesh (ISIS). 2) Do something good for this mudball. 3) Stop preventing monkeys from being photographers and PLEASE, 4) End the “What Happened to Global Warming?” thread.
Sorry...could't resist the urge. So sue me.
Sources:
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20151204/15044132991/selfie-monkey-strikes-back-lawyers-claim-course-monkeys-can-sue-copyright.shtml
https://assets.documentcloud.org/documents/2641993/20151204Plaintiff27sOppositiontoMTD.pdf