Monkey does not own selfie, rules US Copyright Office

The copyright regulator ruled that "the Office will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants".

By: Express News Service
New Delhi | Updated: August 22, 2014 12:54 PM IST

1 min read

The United States Copyright Office has ruled, earlier this week, that the Indonesian Macaque which took a selfie in 2011 cannot own the copyright of the picture.

The copyright regulator ruled that “the Office will not register works produced by nature, animals, or plants”.

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The Macaque snatched the camera from a wildlife photographer and took the selfie. The image of the smiling Macaque went viral.

The British wildlife photographer, David Slater, and Wikimedia Commons were recently embroiled in a controversy over the ownership of the selfie.

Slater wrote to Wikimedia, requesting them to take down the image since it was costing him royalties. But the nonprofit foundation stated that he does not own the copyright to the image.

The image is available for free download on Wiki Commons.