PETA’s ‘monkey selfie’ case reaches settlement
The infamous ‘monkey selfie’ dispute between a photographer and the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has reached a settlement.
The parties announced their settlement with a press release yesterday, September 11, soon after they had filed a motion to dismiss with the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.
PETA and photographer David Slater said the case had raised “important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for non-human animals”.
“As we learn more about Naruto, his community of macaques, and all other animals, we must recognise appropriate fundamental legal rights for them as our fellow global occupants and members of their own nations who want only to live their lives and be with their families,” the statement added
The dispute received worldwide coverage and stems from a ‘selfie’ taken by a Macaque monkey, called Naruto, in Indonesia, using Slater’s camera.
The photo then went viral, and when Slater saw the picture on Wikipedia, he asked the website to stop using it without his permission.
Wikipedia refused, stating that the picture cannot be protected by copyright as Slater did not actually take the picture.
PETA brought a copyright infringement lawsuit in September 2015, filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of California on behalf of Naruto, and claiming that proceeds from the photo should be given to preserve the monkey’s habitat.
In response, Slater filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing that US law did not give animals the standing to assert copyright ownership.
WIPR reported that Judge William Orrick had rejected PETA’s claim in January 2016, and stated that any copyright ownership by animals is a matter for Congress, not the courts.
In July 2017, the US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit heard arguments from both parties in PETA’s subsequent appeal.
Slater argued that he had engineered the photographs in 2008 by travelling to an Indonesia jungle, spending time with the monkeys to gain their trust, and deliberately making his camera accessible to the animals to take photographs.
Speaking to WIPR in July after the hearing, Slater commented on the reaction by some judges.
“Looking at the judges’ faces, I think they were wondering what on earth was going on,” he said. “Even if the monkey could get copyright, it still doesn’t mean the monkey is a copyright holder; I set up the tripod and this is documented from the first days of the trial in 2011.”
As part of the settlement, 25% of future proceeds from “any or all of the monkey selfies” will be donated to charities dedicated to protecting crested macaques in Indonesia.
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