For those of you training monkeys, plants, your cat, etc. to take selfies in order to make a lot of money selling the photos there is some bad news. Selfies taken by non-humans cannot be copytrighted and are in the public domain. Monkey selfies can't be copyrighted, federal office decides - LA Times
Copyright is sometimes straightforward, and at other times it is so complex. For example, remember the selfie/group shot with Ellen and the other actors that 'broke the internet' by being retweeted a record number of times? Who owns the copyright? Is it Ellen because she owns the camera? Or is it Brad Cooper because he pressed the shutter? Or is it Ellen because she was the creative brains behind assembling the group and telling everyone where to stand etc? Or is it joint copyrighted? With regards to the monkey selfie, the monkey owns the copyright, regardless of who owns the camera. However, since only a human can claim copyright, then the photo is in the public domain. The photographer may argue that he 'created and directed' the selfie by encouraging the monkey to face a certain direction etc. but when the story first broke years ago, he said it was a spontaneous selfie the monkey took, thereby shooting himself in the foot. Too bad for the news outlets that paid thousands of dollars to use the pics a few years ago when the story went viral though.
They have logic in their decision. But using this logic they may decide soon that photos of animals taken with some type of trigger mechanisms actuating by these animals are also public domain. Not more than one step
Regardless of the copyright issues, the macaque is cleaning up on lucrative endorsement deals. PHOTOKINA EXCLUSIVE! Leica Signs Macaca Nigra as Spokesprimate | New Camera News
PETA sued photographer David Slater of the infamous macaque selfie after the photographer published it in a book. PETA claimed he had no right because the macaque owns the copyright (proving beyond all doubt that PETA's leaders are, in fact, completely insane). The courts have ruled in the photographer's favor: Court ruling ends 'monkey selfie' battle
