The famous monkey selfie story has been stirred up again, and has been featuring in the mainstream media as well as on IP blogs.
In brief, the facts are that nature photographer David Slater had his camera snatched by a Macaque in an Indonesian jungle, and the cheeky monkey pressed the shutter button - taking this brilliant selfie:
The case itself is old news (2011) but now it’s being discussed again (see The New Yorker story here, for example) because Wikipedia has refused to remove the photograph from its website at David Slater's request - he says the image was posted without seeking his permission to do so. What makes this dispute particularly interesting and amusing is:
- the expression on the monkey’s face is hilarious;
- David Slater claims he owns copyright in the image because the monkey used his camera;
- others say the monkey owns copyright in the image because he pressed the button (the Copyright Law says the photographer is whoever pushed the button, regardless of who owns the camera);
- Wikipedia says that the image is public domain, because the photographer was not human and provisions of the Copyright Law therefore do not apply; and
- to complicate matters even more, others say that if the image was edited (e.g. using Photoshop) then whoever did the editing owns copyright in the image.
At the end of the day everyone but the monkey emerges with a win. Wikipedia is seen as a champion of sharing culture, David Slater gets some free publicity, and the rest of us have a good laugh.