Can a Monkey claim Copyright from a Photographer??

Can a monkey own copyright to a picture? (Pic: David Slater/Caters)
Photo is linked to original story (The Guardian)

This grinning macaque shot to fame in newspapers and on websites across the world after it took a self-portrait using award-winning photographer David Slater’s camera. David had left his camera on a tripod and the inquisitive Macaques came over to investigate, they found the shutter button and started pressing it, supposedly because they like the sound. When David returned, he found a group of pictures the monkeys had taken ,the best one is above.

Now it has been suggested that, as the ‘creator’ of the picture, the cheeky monkey may in fact be the true copyright holder of the image – and presumably entitled to a payout.

The debate was started by the website Techdirt, which pondered whether Mr Slater owned the picture, even though he did not take it. The website was later asked to remove the image from its pages by a news agency acting on behalf of Mr Slater – sparking a fresh row about the true copyright holder.


‘Until I hear from the monkey’s lawyers, I will stick to the belief that I own the copyright,’ said Mr Slater yesterday. He claimed he had engineered the shoot, adding: ‘I was the artist behind it.

‘It was my artistry and idea to leave them to play with the camera and it was all in my eyesight. I knew the monkeys were very likely to do this and I predicted it. I knew there was a chance of a photo being taken.’
Copyright lawyers confirmed that setting up the pictures gave Mr Slater a lawful claim to the copyright.
And experts added the ‘author’ of any copyrighted work had to be a ‘natural’ person – not, it seems, a monkey.

So what do you think? Will the Indonesian Government pursue this or is it just a load of old monkey poo?

Leave your thoughts in the comments below!