Following photographer David Slater's suit on Wikimedia for releasing a "Monkey selfie" from his camera for free, U.S. regulators have ruled that the infamous 'selfie' taken by the monkey that swiped the photographer's camera cannot be copyrighted. According to the regulators, it was an accident rather than smart thinking by the monkey or the photographer.
The photograph that was captured by a macaque monkey in Indonesia, in 2011, instantly went viral online. It resulted in a battle between Wikipedia's open-source common section, Wikimedia, and Slater. The latter believed that because the photo was taken from his camera, it meant he owned the copyrights.
The U.S. ruling sided with Wikipedia's argument that the photograph could not be copyrighted. Explaining what it called "Human Authorship Requirement", the court went on to note "copyright law only protects 'the fruits of intellectual labour' that 'are founded in the creative powers of the mind'".
In 2011, Slater believed he owned the rights to the photos; therefore claiming the company owed him $30,000 in lost earnings.
The foundation believed otherwise. According to the site, no one owned the copyright, not even the monkey who took the photo, as a non-human being took the photograph. In fact, the website had a notice by the image that said: "This file is in the public domain because, as the work of a non-human animal, it has no human author in whom copyright is vested."
"It's all based on a technicality," said Slater. "I own the photo but because the monkey pressed the trigger and took the photo, they're claiming the monkey owns the copyright. There's a lot more to copyright than who pushes the trigger on the camera."
"Nothing gives Wikimedia the right to decide who owns the copyright of the image and give people permission to use it free," he added.
Slater's argument is that he was responsible for the setting up of the shot, and that foundation made its decision based on press stories rather than facts.
"It looked like they were already posing for the camera when one hit the button. The sound got his attention and he kept pressing it. At first it scared the rest of them away but they soon came back. I wish I could have stayed longer as he probably would have taken a full family album."
