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Posts Tagged ‘Monkey’

Monkey copyright lawsuit finally over, court rejects PETA’s claims

25 Apr
Photo: David Slater

PETA’s “monkey selfie” copyright lawsuit has finally, finally reached a satisfying ending. On Monday, a three-judge panel with the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that only humans can pursue copyright infringement claims, upholding a lower court’s decision after a judge refused to let PETA settle its way out of this likely conclusion.

In its ruling, the court said:

Affirming the district court’s dismissal of claims brought by a monkey, the panel held that the animal had constitutional standing but lacked statutory standing to claim copyright infringement of photographs known as the “MonkeySelfies.” … The panel held that the monkey lacked statutory standing because the Copyright Act does not expressly authorize animals to file copyright infringement suits.

The ruling follows the Ninth Circuit’s decision earlier this month to reject PETA’s settlement dismissal request.

PETA had argued that the macaque named Naruto, not camera owner David Slater, owned the copyright because it took the image itself. Courts had expressed skepticism about PETA’s argument, also questioning whether the organization had a suitable relationship with the monkey to sue on its behalf.

In September 2017, PETA announced a settlement with Slater; it asked the Ninth Circuit Court to dismiss the case and vacate the lower court’s ruling. However, in a decision earlier this month, the Ninth Circuit indicated that it had rejected the request because it seemed to be PETA’s way to avoid establishing a precedent. The court had also stated:

As one of our colleagues once warned in a similar context, “courts must be particularly wary of abetting ‘strategic behavior’ on the part of institutional litigants whose continuing interest in the development in the law may transcend their immediate interest in the outcome of a particular case.”

The ruling doesn’t impact PETA’s settlement with Slater, which requires the photographer to donate 25% of future revenue from the image to charities that protect crested macaques in Indonesia.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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PETA monkey selfie lawsuit lives on, judge rejects attempted settlement

17 Apr
Photo: David Slater

It’s the copyright lawsuit that refuses to die. In September 2017, PETA finally settled its monkey selfie lawsuit with photographer David Slater, ending years of financially destructive litigation. However, a request to dismiss the case has since been rejected by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which points out in a newly published order that it’s not required to honor the dismissal request.

The decision to proceed with a ruling appears to be the Ninth Circuit’s way of preventing PETA from dodging a legal outcome that would interfere with potential future litigation of a similar nature. The Court’s order states, in part, that:

…denying the motion to dismiss and declining to vacate the lower court judgement prevents the parties from manipulating precedent in a way that suits their institutional preferences.

The Ninth Circuit further narrows down the thought process behind continuing the lawsuit, stating in the order:

As one of our colleagues once warned in a similar context, “courts must be particularly wary of abetting ‘strategic behavior’ on the part of institutional litigants whose continuing interest in the development in the law may transcend their immediate interest in the outcome of a particular case.”

PETA’s settlement was anticipated last year after signs surfaced indicating the courts weren’t in the organization’s favor. In July 2017, for example, PETA’s attorney faced a series of questions from judges including whether the organization’s relationship with the monkey was of the nature that it could sue on the animal’s behalf. Before that, a federal judge in San Francisco found that the monkey doesn’t have legal standing to sue.

By settling—assuming the case were dismissed and a lower court’s judgement vacated—PETA could dodge a ruling that it may not like; a ruling that could establish a precedent that would prevent it from filing similar lawsuits on the behalf of animals in the future. The Ninth Circuit’s order also states:

We note that although PETA joins Appellants in the motions to dismiss the appeal and to vacate the district court judgment, and claims to have reached a settlement agreement with Appellees, it also points out that Naruto is not a party to the settlement agreement. It appears that the settlement agreement would not bar another attempt to file a new action.

A final ruling in the case is forthcoming.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Shutterstock bans unnatural monkey and ape photos at PETA’s request

05 Jan

Stock photography website Shutterstock has banned images showing monkeys and apes in unnatural situations following a complaint made by PETA. The complaint is made on the behalf of primates that may be exploited in order to produce the images, which may also show these animals in a state of distress even if they’re not perceived in that way.

An unnatural image, in this case, is one presenting an ape or monkey is an environment where it wouldn’t ordinarily be found, in costume or otherwise dressed up, demonstrating unnatural behaviors like dancing, interacting with humans in a way that isn’t natural for the animal, and similar scenarios.

In a post dated December 19th, PETA said, “Images of these animals in unnatural settings can harm conservation efforts and may increase the demand for these wild animals as ‘pets.'” After discussing these potential issues with Shutterstock, PETA says the company decided to ban the aforementioned content, also applying the ban to its Bigstock subsidiary.

The stock photo company’s ban is similarly applied to images that have been digitally altered to show the above situations. Other images featuring monkeys and apes are still allowed, however, including ones featuring zoos and natural habitats, as well as in cities where they’re naturally found.

Shutterstock confirmed the content ban to DPReview yesterday evening, with Shutterstock’s VP of Content Operations Paul Brennan saying:

In line with advertising industry changes regarding the use of great apes and monkeys in stock images and clips, Shutterstock no longer accepts commercial photographs or video clips of great apes and monkeys in unnatural situations.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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PETA and David Slater settle copyright lawsuit over monkey selfie

14 Sep
Photo: David Slater

PETA has announced that it has settled its copyright lawsuit against photographer David Slater over his iconic “monkey selfie,” a self-portrait allegedly taken by a macaque named Naruto. The image went viral a few years ago, ultimately catching the attention of PETA, who argued that Naruto—not Slater—was the image’s legal copyright holder. This spurred a lawsuit that has dragged on for about two years.

The legal issues began shortly after the monkey selfie went viral. Various sites used the image without Slater’s permission and refused to cease use on the claim that Slater didn’t own the copyright. The U.S. Copyright Office didn’t prove helpful in the matter, having issued an official guidance stating that copyright could only be granted to a work that was created by a human.

PETA swooped in soon after, hitting Slater with a lawsuit in 2015 on behalf of Naruto, the macaque it claimed captured the photo (there’s some debate on this topic). The resulting legal spat drained Slater financially, but things began looking up this past summer when courts questioned whether PETA even had the legal standing to bring a lawsuit on Naruto’s behalf, among other things. As anticipated, the courts’ push against the lawsuit has seemingly spurred a settlement.

According to an announcement posted to PETA’s blog on Tuesday, Slater has agreed to settlement terms that require him to donate 25% of future revenue from the image to charities that protect macaques like Naruto. PETA still maintains that Naruto and other macaques like him are, “worthy of having legal ownership of their own intellectual property and holding other rights as members of the legal community.”

The settlement was not a victory for the photography community, however. NPR reports that both Slater’s legal team and PETA have jointly requested that the 9th Circuit Court throw out a ruling made by a lower court that found animals incapable of owning copyrights.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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PETA is close to settling that ridiculous monkey selfie lawsuit

09 Aug
Photo: David Slater

PETA may be close to settling its lawsuit involving ‘Naruto’ the macaque monkey and a selfie it allegedly took using photographer David Slater’s camera. Per PETA’s 2015 legal claim, Naruto (the monkey) owns the copyright to the image, not Slater, because the animal took the selfie on its own—that lawsuit, which has dragged on for the better part of two years, has left Slater broke.

Slater’s troubles began shortly after the photo went viral, as multiple entities refused to remove the image from their publications on claims that Slater wasn’t the copyright owner. That boiled over into an official guidance issued by the U.S. Copyright Office, which stated that, under U.S. law, a copyright can only be issued on work created by a human. This effectively left the image without a copyright.

Joining the bandwagon soon after that guidance was issued was PETA, with its 2015 legal claim on behalf of the monkey. PETA argues that the monkey itself owns the copyright because it took the image; all the while, Slater continued to assert his own copyright claim over the image. The matter ultimately ended up in court.

Last month during oral arguments, PETA’s attorney was grilled by judges on several topics, including whether the company has a suitable relationship with ‘Naruto’ the monkey to bring a lawsuit on its behalf, as well as whether a non-human animal has the legal standing to bring a copyright lawsuit. This itself followed a case dismissal by a federal court in California, which found that a monkey isn’t legally able to hold the image’s copyright under the U.S. Copyright Act.

All signs point toward the courts siding against PETA in this lawsuit, and so it perhaps isn’t surprising that PETA is moving toward a settlement of the case. The most recent developments in the legal matter is that PETA and Slater have entered into settlement talks following the aforementioned oral arguments. Per a joint motion filed with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit:

The parties have agreed on a general framework for a settlement subject to the negotiation and resolution of specific terms. The parties are optimistic that they will be able to reach an agreement that will resolve all claims in this matter.

The terms of this potential settlement weren’t detailed.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Photographer behind famous ‘monkey selfie’ is broke after years-long copyright battle

14 Jul
The infamous photo, captured when the monkey pressed the shutter, has become the subject of a years-long copyright dispute that has left Slater broke. Photo: David Slater

Freelance photographer David Slater, once one of the most talked-about photographers in the world because of his serendipitous ‘monkey selfies,’ is now considering dog walking… or giving tennis lessons. According to The Guardian, the selfsame selfie that made Slater famous has left him broke after years of legal disputes between Slater and both Wikimedia and PETA.

In case you’ve not been following this strangest of copyright battles, the details are as follows. In 2011, Slater traveled to Sulawesi, Indonesia where, by his account, he managed to coax some macaques to start playing with his camera gear. Slater did this on purpose, he says, because he was having trouble getting a close up wide-angle shot of the monkeys with their eyes open.

His gambit worked. One of the macaques took a few ‘selfies’ that immediately went viral, earning Slater a few thousand pounds… then the legal troubles started.

Wikimedia refused to take down the photo at Slater’s request, claiming that he wasn’t the copyright holder since he didn’t press the shutter. Then the US Copyright Office ruled that animals cannot own copyrights, leaving the photo ostensibly author-less. And finally, since Slater continues to claim copyright, the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued him on behalf of the macaque in 2015.

That pretty much brings us to yesterday’s article in The Guardian, in which Slater admits that years of legal battles have left him broke and ready to ‘pack it all in.’ He couldn’t even afford the airfare to attend his own trial in San Francisco this week—instead, he watched a livestream of the trial from his home in the UK.

Slater’s current predicament isn’t just a cautionary tale for photographers who dream of going viral, it offers fascinating insights into the archaic laws surrounding authorship and copyright. Of course, the idea that this case might prevent future photographers from going through something similar is probably small consolation for Slater at this junction.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Monkey photo copyright in question as Wikipedia denies photographer’s takedown request

07 Aug

On a trip to Indonesia in 2011, photographer David Slater was photographing a black crested macaque when it grabbed his camera and proceeded to take hundreds of pictures of itself. The resulting ‘monkey selfie’ did the rounds on the internet, winding up in Wikimedia Commons. Mr. Slater has asked that the photo be taken down, but Wikimedia sees things differently. Read more

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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