Comments on: Monkey-snapped photos: the grin on the PETA

By: MattS

MattS — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 02:58:51 +0000

In reply to Bill Poser. Bill, it wasn't his macaque. He was in Indonesia photographing wild macaques. He walked away from the camera for a minute and one of the wild macaques started playing with the camera and ended up taking a selfie. If it had been a captive macaque owned by the photographer he might have a stronger case that he owned the copyright.

By: Bill Poser

Bill Poser — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 21:00:19 +0000

If the photographer owns the copyright to his macaque’s photos, is he also liable for trespass and invasion of privacy if his macaque climbs over a garden wall, climbs up a trellis, enters a celebrity’s bedroom, and takes photos of him engaged in intercourse with another celebrity?

By: MattS

MattS — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 04:05:23 +0000

In reply to gitarcarver.

“Finally, just because my dog licks his butt doesn’t mean he has the right to copyright that recipe.”

Well of course he doesn’t have the right to copyright that recipe. After all, that recipe is thousands of years old.

By: gitarcarver

gitarcarver — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 00:21:33 +0000

If the monkey has the ability to hold the copyrights, does that mean that the photographer got model releases for the monkey and the other monkeys he spied upon?

Finally, just because my dog licks his butt doesn’t mean he has the right to copyright that recipe.

By: John Burgess

John Burgess — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 20:18:54 +0000

Do the bacteria, fungi, and viruses that inhabit my shutter release (as I’m sure they do) have some claim to copyright also? How about the ones on PETA’s keyboards?

By: LTMG

LTMG — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 16:16:12 +0000

In the spirit of equality, how about treating the PETA advocates as simians? How could they object?

By: Allan

Allan — Thu, 24 Sep 2015 13:51:49 +0000

I vote no copyright. It should not go to the photographer because he did not take the photo. It should not go to the monkey. Monkeys, other primates (with the exceptions of humans), and any other species should not have property rights.