Wildlife Photographer David Slater had his camera taken by a crested macaque named Naruto who then snapped a series of “monkey selfies.” Slater put the image on the cover of his book “Wildlife Personalities.” The image was taken by Wikipedia and placed in the public domain where it was available for free.
Slater sued claiming copyright while Wikipedia declared that since Naruto took the pictures himself the pictures could not be copyrighted. The U.S. Copy Right Office agreed with Wikipedia in 2014 then PETA jumped in suing on behalf of Naruto for the monkey’s ownership rights over the images.
The lawsuit was dropped yesterday when Slater and PETA came to an agreement that “25% of any future revenue he earns from the “monkey selfies” to charities that protect crested black macaques in Indonesia.”
More on PETA’s lawsuit Here
Somebody figure this out quickly, what’s 25% of nothing.
OH C’MON!! FAKE NEWS!! THAT’S MOOCH!!
That looks a lot like an Economics professor I had!
I thought that was Michelle without makeup, guess I’m right.
That was my take too. He gave PeTA a nothing, but one they could use to claim victory.
BTW I am a member of PETA: People for Eating Tasty Animals.
Note that the photo used is of Slater holding a picture of the monkey selfie, so no violations of Naruto’s ownership rights.
Twenty five percent of nothing is 0 and always will be 0, no ifs ands or buts. Math is easy, it’s liberals who make it hard because to them it’s not fair if someone gets more than someone else for whatever reason.
Not to agree with anything involved here, but there is a technical point to be made, strictly out of curiosity.
Any device you setup that is automated in any way to snap the shutter of a camera would also be treated under the same ruling? So if you make a rube goldberg that snaps photos along the way they can’t be copyrighted? Or is this specifically if you hand someone like Mooch a camera (a living critter), whatever it snaps you can’t copyright?