Monkey Business


Copyright laws have been at the forefront lately due to a picture of Celebes crested macaque. In 2011, David Slater a photographer, was visiting Indonesia to take photographs of the Celebes crested macaque when one of these monkeys grabbed the camera and started taking selfies. Somehow these monkey selfies wound up being uploaded to Wikimedia Commons. The monkey selfie was being distributed by Wikimedia Commons as a public image. David Slater strikes back requesting that Wikimedia Commons takes down the picture. David Slater has stated that this picture being on a public domain has cost him £10,000.00.

Wikimedia Foundation rejects Slater’s request stating that it is the monkeys art and therefore the monkey holds the copyright.

Unfortunately in US Copyright Law a non-human (so don’t let your lizards steal your camera) cannot hold a copyright. This is a debate every wildlife photographer and photographer should watch to see if it changes how copyrights are changed. So who owns it? Imagine your pet reptile taking a selfie? Even though you own the camera and media it was saved to, your pet reptile actually holds the copyright to the photograph. What are your thoughts on this subject? Should the photograph be available for the public to use? Or should the owner of the camera own the copyright? Visit our Facebook fan page and let us know what you think.

Authored by James Tintle