If a monkey grabs your camera and takes a photo of itself do you still have legal rights to that photo? According to Wikimedia, the answer is no, because the real owner of the photo is no one because it was taken by an animal.
This is exactly the problem that British photographer David Slater is having with the Wikimedia Foundation. In 2011, Slater traveled to an Indonesian forest and set up a camera and tripod and left it alone, walking away. After that, monkeys grabbed the camera and started taking selfies. Although most of the photos were blurry and out of focus, one turned out so stunning that it captured worldwide headlines and the public's attention.
However, the problem arose when that photo turned up on Wikipedia, and then on Wikimedia Commons, which displays photos in the public domain, making them free for public usage. Slater asked for the photo's removal, citing his own copyright on it, but Wikimedia disagreed, stating that the person who takes a photo is the owner of that photo. However, this time, they weren't dealing with a person, but an animal, and that changes the rules.
"Monkeys don't own copyrights," says Katherine Maher, Wikimedia Foundations' CCO. "What we found is that U.S. copyright law says that works that originate from a non-human source can't claim copyright."
Wikimedia pointed out that the only way Slater could retain copyright to the image is if he'd developed it in a specific way or made creative decisions with lighting or other factors when taking the photo.
Slater claims that the photograph's presence on Wikimedia Commons is ruining his business as a photographer because he cannot receive royalties on the now-famous image, which he estimates would add up to several tens of thousands of dollars. He plans on suing the organization in the U.S.
"This will be an interesting test case, and could set an important precedent in the copyright of photographs posted to the public online," says Thomas Kozlowski, who uploaded the image to Wikimedia.
Of course, if the monkey in question turns up and requests removal of the photo, the situation might be different, but as that hasn't happened yet, Wikimedia remains resolute on its decision.
