‘Selfie Monkey’ Cannot Sue for Copyright, Court Rules

Can animals own photographs, and can they sue for copyright? Not according to the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals which has sided with a photographer in an infamous and long-fought copyright lawsuit over ‘selfie’ photographs taken by a monkey. The lawsuit sought to make the animal the copyright owner of the images. But the latest ruling has dismissed the case, saying that US copyright law does not allow for lawsuits that give animals rights to original work.

The trouble started while wildlife photographer David Slater was travelling through the Tangkoko Reserve in Sulawesi, Indonesia in 2011. Here, a 6-year-old crested macaque came across Slater’s camera after the photographer left it unattended, and used its opposable thumbs to take self-portraits. After Slater published the images, animal rights organization The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued Slater in 2015. PETA named the macaque ’Naruto’ and said Slater had violated the monkey’s copyright. PETA sought to give the proceeds from the photographs towards supporting the monkey, its habitat and the endangered species it belongs. Slater meanwhile said that his company Wildlife Personalities Ltd. held worldwide commercial rights to the images.

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While the initial lawsuit was dismissed with a judge ruling that animals cannot own copyright, PETA appealed, claiming the US Copyright Act does not say whether the creator of original work must be human. Slater and PETA compromised in 2017, with the photographer agreeing to donate 25% of proceeds from the photographs to animal-protection charities. PETA and Slater then asked the 9th Circuit to dismiss the case, but the court refused and has now delivered its verdict that animals cannot own copyright.

‘We conclude that this monkey – and all animals, since they are not human – lacks statutory standing under the Copyright Act’ the ruling declared. The court also slammed PETA saying that it had used Naruto ‘as an unwitting pawn in its ideological goals.’