Animals and Copyright Law

Io9.com asks the important question: "Who Owns Copyright On A Selfie Taken By A Monkey?"

Should the photo belong to Slater [the owner of the camera], or is it the creative work of a monkey? Is there any sense in which the monkey should own the copyright, something that - at the moment, at least - is not possible under US legislation? For that matter, who owns the rights to the paintings that animals create in zoos and sanctuaries as part of their enrichment routines?

To this question we might add the question of who owns video shot by miniature cameras mounted on animals, as is sometimes done for nature shows and scientific studies.

Further details and more pictures can be seen at The Telegraph

The monkey-taken selfie, which is hilarious, can be viewed in high-resolution on Wikimedia. The discussion on Wikimedia Commons is also instructive.

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