PETA Sues Photographer for Copyright Infringement on Behalf of a Monkey who Took a Selfie

ArsTechnica – A federal judge on Wednesday said that a monkey that swiped a British nature photographer’s camera during an Indonesian jungle shoot and snapped selfies cannot own the intellectual property rights to those handful of pictures. US District Judge William Orrick was tasked with hearing a lawsuit brought by the People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA). The Animal rights group was trying to represent the 6-year-old monkey, Naruto, in a case brought against the human photographer, David Slater, and his self-publishing platform, Blurb of San Francisco. The monkey—via PETA’s intervention—was seeking monetary damages for copyright infringement from Slater and the Blurb, the platform Slater used to publish the selfies. The US Copyright Office says Slater cannot own the rights to the handful of images snapped in the Tangkoko reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in 2011. Works “produced by nature, animals, or plants” cannot be granted copyright protection, the US Copyright Office said in 2014. The judge said during a brief hearing that he would dismiss the suit in an upcoming order, and at one point said PETA’s argument was a “stretch.”

You know how sometimes crazy people who oppose gay marriage say, “What’s next? Are people gonna marry monkeys next?” And everybody points and laughs at them and says “Of course not you idiots! That’s not remotely related to what we’re talking about here!” Well that interaction doesn’t stop right there if you work for PETA. PETA people hear that and think, wait a minute, why can’t I marry monkey?

Monkey love is real. Monkey love is powerful. Monkeys have rights don’t they? Better yet, why can’t monkeys get voter ID cards?  Why are we allowing plastic bananas to be made for fruit displays? It’s monstrous. They’re incredibly misleading and violate monkey safe space. If a monkey selfie or a gif of one peeing in his own mouth goes viral, what’s his take on the back end for all that advertising money?

That’s the brain of the people who work at PETA. Then they go out into the world and try to get a judge to get a photogenic macaque a copyright infringement payday. I swear they’re banking on Planet of the Apes coming to pass. Bunch of Benedict Arnold’s trying to get in tight with our future ape overlords. Bow before them!

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