PETA Suing To Give Copyright To The Macaque Who Took Selfies
A macaque monkey is the subject of a current lawsuit by animal rights organization PETA, who claim the famous selfie photographs the monkey managed to capture should belong to the animal. The organization claim the macaque monkey in question deserves to be the copyright owner of the pictures. The suit was filed at a federal court in San Francisco by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA).
The court order would allow PETA to administer any proceeds acquired from the photographs to the benefit of the monkey, which has been identified as the six-year-old Naruto. The photographs were taken during a trip in 2011 by British nature photographer David Slater. Through the self-publishing company Blurb, Slater has released a book called Wildlife Personalities, which features the “monkey selfie” pictures. The photos, however, have been distributed all across the internet, too.
Slater previously offered copies of the “monkey selfie” for only the cost of shipping and handling. He then donated all proceeds to a conservation project dedicated to helping the macaque monkeys.
