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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsPETA sues to give monkey the copyright of selfie photos
Not The Onion!!
http://www.sfgate.com/news/science/article/PETA-sues-to-give-monkey-the-copyright-of-selfie-6521520.php
The suit was filed in federal court in San Francisco by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. It seeks a court order allowing PETA to administer all proceeds from the photos for the benefit of the monkey, which it identified as 6-year-old Naruto, and other crested macaques living in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi....
However, the photos have been widely distributed elsewhere by outlets, including Wikipedia, which contend that no one owns the copyright to the images because they were taken by an animal, not a person. Slater, who is exploring legal action against some of those outlets, said he was "very saddened" by PETA's lawsuit because he considers himself an advocate of animal rights.
Last year, the U.S. Copyright Office issued an updated compendium of its policies, including a section stipulating that it would register copyrights only for works produced by human beings. It specified that works produced by animals, whether a photo taken by a monkey or a mural painted by an elephant, would not qualify.
BlueJazz
(25,348 posts)..sign it (ok Scribble something) and swear up in down in court that I got it's permission to do what I want with the photos.
(It would be just as silly)
jberryhill
(62,444 posts)Ownership rights also include the rights to sell or assign those rights.
Can the macaque own something it cannot agree to sell?
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Nye Bevan
(25,406 posts)I mean, why do boring stuff like pushing for better conditions for livestock on farms when you can advocate for the rights of selfie-taking chimps?
KamaAina
(78,249 posts)it's a macaque monkey, a few rungs down on the evolutionary scale (and the origin of the racial slur macaca, which sunk George Allen's Senate bid )
Orrex
(63,224 posts)Just like the thousands of animals that PETA kills annually can't give legal consent.
Travis_0004
(5,417 posts)cloudbase
(5,525 posts)The trunk monkey gets paid scale and is to receive royalty checks.
Dr. Strange
(25,923 posts)at least they're not comparing the monkey's lack of copyright to the holocaust.
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20150922/11063332329/monkey-business-peta-sues-behalf-monkey-selfie-claims-copyright-belongs-to-monkey.shtml
clarice
(5,504 posts)ripcord
(5,537 posts)Because he never filed for copyright protections, he has no one but himself to blame.