In One Deft Determination Judge Halts Monkey Business

U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick ruled
against PETA, rejecting their attempt to award
 copyright ownership of selfies taken by the
crested macaque Naruto.
Photo: Naruto | Wikimedia Commons.

Back in 2011 freelance photographer David Slater left a camera unattended in a wildlife refuge in Indonesia. While there, it was grabbed by a crested macaque monkey named Naruto, who ended up taking several pictures with the camera, including a now famous selfie.

Slater published those photos along with his own in a self-published book, which to date has sold less than 100 copies. Back in September, PETA sued Slater under the pretense that Naruto owned the selfie and several other photos, and that he should earn damages for copyright infringement. They did say those damages should go towards habitat preservation, which is perhaps the only part of the trial that makes any real sense.

The importance of habitat preservation aside, Slater, his lawyers, and now U.S. District Court Judge William Orrick think the lawsuit is absurd. At a ruling in San Francisco, Judge Orrick threw the suit out, stating that, although Congress and the president can extend legal protections to animals, no such extension has happened in the case of copyright law. Since he’s not a human, Naruto cannot own a copyright.

He did, however, offer PETA the chance to amend their lawsuit, and the group is now reviewing their legal options. Slater’s lawyer doesn’t think the suit will move forward either way though.

Although it’s a rather silly case on the face of it, had Judge Orrick allowed it to go to trial, or if it still does so, it could establish some dangerous precedents for intellectual property law.

The absurdity of granting ownership of something symbolic like a copyright to an animal aside, if PETA were allowed to sue Slate for damages it could lead other organizations to push even harder at intellectual property rights. Many artists struggle to retain ownership of their creations, especially in an age where piracy is as easy as it is now, and chipping away at those rights for a reason like this seems like a slippery slope.