Court rules selfie monkey can�t own copyright

SAN FRANCISCO:  A US judge has ruled that a macaque monkey who snapped grinning selfies that went viral last year online does not own the copyright to the photographs.
Activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals brought the case in San Francisco on behalf of Indonesian simian Naruto, who shot to fame last year after a photographer published pictures taken by the monkey with his camera.
PETA petitioned the court to have the macaque “declared the author and owner of his photograph.”
But in a preliminary ruling Wednesday, Judge William Orrick said that “while Congress and the President can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act.”
The photos were taken in 2011 on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. He later published a book of his photographs, which included two selfies taken by six-year-old Naruto.

Court rules selfie monkey can�t own copyright

SAN FRANCISCO: A US judge has ruled that a macaque monkey who snapped grinning selfies that went viral last year online does not own the copyright to the photographs. Activist group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals brought the case in San Francisco on behalf of Indonesian simian Naruto, who shot to fame last year after a photographer published pictures taken by the monkey with his camera. PETA petitioned the court to have the macaque declared the author and owner of his photograph. But in a preliminary ruling Wednesday, Judge William Orrick said that while Congress and the President can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act. The photos were taken in 2011 on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. He later published a book of his photographs, which included two selfies taken by six-year-old Naruto.