Monkey can’t sue for copyright infringement

UNITED STATES: A US federal appeals court has decided unanimously that animals may not sue for copyright protection.

The ruling yesterday came in the case of a monkey that took selfies using a wildlife photographer’s camera. The photographer later published the photos.

An animal rights group sued, claiming that the monkey owned the copyright because it took the pictures.

‘‘We must determine whether a monkey may sue humans, corporations, and companies for damages and injunctive relief arising from claims of copyright infringement,’’ Judge Carlos Bea wrote for a three-judge panel of the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals.

‘‘We conclude that this monkey – and all animals, since they are not human – lacks statutory standing under the Copyright Act,’’ Bea said.

Naruto, named as the plaintiff, was a 7-year-old crested macaque living in a reserve in Indonesia. The monkey purportedly took several photos of itself in 2011 after wildlife photographer David Slater left his camera unattended.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) sued Slater in 2015, arguing that the copyright to the photos belonged to the monkey. The group and Slater later settled the case out of court, but the 9th Circuit decided to rule on the matter anyway.

Judge N Randy Smith, in a concurrence, called PETA’S suit ‘‘frivolous’’. ‘‘The concept of expanding actual property rights – and rights broadly – to animals necessitates resolving what duties also come with those rights,’’ he wrote, ‘‘and, because animals cannot communicate in our language, who stands in their shoes?’’

He said federal courts lacked the authority to hear a lawsuit purportedly brought by an animal.

– LA Times