PETA files suit on behalf of grinning ‘selfie monkey’

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed the suit in federal court in San Francisco on behalf of six-year-old Naruto, seeking to have the macaque “declared the author and owner of his photograph”.

It also sought a court order letting PETA and a noted primatologist, Dr. Antje Engelhardt of Georg-August University, Gottingen, Germany, administer Naruto’s rights on condition that all proceeds be used exclusively for the benefit of him, his family and community, “including the preservation of their habitat”.

This case exemplifies what PETA has championed for 35 years: Animals deserve recognition of appropriate rights for their own sake, and not in relation to their exploitation by humans. The US Copyright Act grants rights to authors of original works, “including those created by Naruto”, regardless of their species, according to the lawsuit.

The photos were taken in 2011 on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi by British nature photographer David Slater. And since that “person” was a monkey, who PETA claims is named Naruto, that means no one owns the photo.

He later published a book of his photographs that included two selfies taken by Naruto.

He said he was very disappointed not to have been contacted by PETA in advance, and described himself as a low-paid wildlife photographer who has been struggling to earn a living.

Slater says he set up his tripod and walked away for a few minutes.

As the debate simmered, Slater offered his monkey photograph to buyers willing to pay only for shipping and handling and said he would donate $1.70 per picture for the upkeep of Sulawesi’s macaques. “The facts are that I was the intellect behind the photos, I set the whole thing up”, he said in an email. “A monkey pressed the button, but I did all the setting up”, Slater told the National Post previous year . But he also has defended his right to make money from the photos. But it’s certainly not going to help PETA’s case.

The U.S. Copyright Office even weighed in on the matter.

“They have a fair argument”, he wrote, “but I would have to say it is an uphill battle”.