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People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) and wildlife photographer David Slater have reached a settlement over the ownership of a photograph taken by an Indonesian macaque monkey named Naruto:
PETA; photographer David Slater; his company, Wildlife Personalities, Ltd.; and self-publishing platform Blurb, Inc., have reached a settlement of the "monkey selfie" litigation. As a part of the arrangement, Slater has agreed to donate 25 percent of any future revenue derived from using or selling the monkey selfies to charities that protect the habitat of Naruto and other crested macaques in Indonesia.
According to a joint statement, "PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for nonhuman animals, a goal that they both support, and they will continue their respective work to achieve this goal."
General Counsel for PETA Jeff Kerr told the New York Times that he did not know how much money Slater made on the photos in the past, but also that PETA is glad Naruto will benefit from the images in the future.
A federal judge previously dismissed the case, but PETA appealed. PETA has dropped its appeal so the question of nonhuman ownership of "intellectual property" will not be answered by a higher court.
Also at Ars Technica.
Previously: Monkey Selfie Case May Undo Evolution of the Web
(Score: 2) by aristarchus on Thursday September 14 2017, @04:27AM (1 child)
Ah, an actual response! I will have to ponder this, khallow. Two initial questions: are you talking monkeys, trees, or birds? And, what exactly do you mean by "puppets" and "figureheads"?
(Score: 1) by khallow on Thursday September 14 2017, @01:40PM
For example, the current lawsuit of the above story was purportedly to defend the IP rights of a tribe of macaque monkeys, but the practical impact is that the self-appointed, would-be proxies for these monkeys (PETA) get a lot of cheap publicity. The monkeys are mere figureheads for a purely human scheme.