26 Aug Monkey See, Monkey Selfie? Who Owns Copyright?

Indonesian monkey above left, sorry. The US Copyright Office says the selfies you took in 2011 after grabbing British nature photographer David Slater’s camera and snapping hundreds of pictures of yourself (he apparently liked the sound the camera made when taking a picture) does not give you, or Slater for that matter, any rights. Slater is fighting it in court and says he owns the copyright on anything taken with his camera on his trip and no one else can distribute the photos.

In newly released rules last week, the US Copyright Office says that no one owns a copyright on pictures taken, or other creative works by, non-humans. Examples they included were murals painted by elephants, a song written by the Divine Spirit, and pictures taken by monkeys. Tell that to Planet of the Apes’ civilization-founding chimp Caesar, above right, who would be none too pleased.

The monkey is pretty darn cute. Apparently the new rules are under review until December 15 and after that they are in full effect. So for now you can enjoy the monkey selfies for free. My view: copyrights are for art, and if you own a camera but didn’t create the art, you should not own the rights to the creative works you didn’t create. But that’s just me.