PETA Sues To Get Copyright For Macaque Monkey Over Famous Selfies

PETA has launched a suit in the federal court of San Francisco to give copyright to a female macaque monkey for her now world-famous selfies.

During a visit to the Indonesian island of Sulawesi back in 2011, a macaque monkey called Naruto grabbed a nature photographer’s camera and proceeded to take some now famous selfies. Despite the fact that the photographer tried to get copyright, the photos were declared to be in the public domain as they were taken by a non-human.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) launched an unusual lawsuit Tuesday, saying that six-year-old Naruto should be declared the copyright owner of the photos, rather than the photographer who merely positioned his camera to take wildlife shots.

Like, why would you read anything else on the monkey selfie copyright DRAMA but this http://t.co/r0aZoTIoWi pic.twitter.com/VSvPwGxT7l

— Sarah N. Emerson (@SarahNEmerson) September 22, 2015

Time reports PETA is seeking a court order which would allow them to administer all proceeds from the selfie photos for the benefit of Naruto the macaque monkey, along with other crested macaques living in a reserve on the island of Sulawesi.

Since the photos were taken by the macaque monkey back in 2011, British nature photographer David Slater has published a book called Wildlife Personalities, and has included the now world-famous monkey selfie photos in that book.

The photos have been distributed widely on various platforms, including Wikipedia, listing them as being in the public domain, as an animal cannot own copyright to images, only a human.

Slater himself says he is an advocate for animal rights and has been seeking legal action against some of the platforms that have published the images, but he told the media that he was “very saddened” by PETA’s lawsuit.

In an email, Slater said the British copyright of the photo of the macaque monkey should be honored worldwide.

“The facts are that I was the intellect behind the photos, I set the whole thing up.”

“A monkey only pressed a button of a camera set up on a tripod — a tripod I positioned and held throughout the shoot.”

As reported by Oregon Live, this isn’t the first time PETA has attempted to launch novel lawsuits, widely seen by legal experts as having little chance of success. Back in 2011, PETA launched a lawsuit accusing SeaWorld parks of keeping five killer whales under conditions that violate the U.S. Constitution’s ban on slavery.

That suit was dismissed by a federal judge, who said the 13th Amendment only applies to humans.

[Image: Macaque monkey selfies in the public domain]