Wikipedia refuses to delete photo as 'monkey owns it'

[robbins.photo]

Well the various in's and out's of copyright law do present some fascinating questions to be certain.

But really for me the really big question still remains unanswered, what kind of idiot hands over his dslr to a monkey?

 

[Braineack]

sounds like they were playing with his on, preconfigured camera on a tri-pod, and one of the monkeys hit his cable release. He allowed it, cause that's awesome, and then they kept pressing the cable to make the shutter sound. The shot only happened because he allowed it to.

in other words, they were his remote shutter activation.

 

[SoulfulRecover]

seems like the sensible ruling would be that the image is not copyrighted and any future earnings can not be had from it. let the guy keep the past contracts and just prevent further income from it.

 

[KmH]

So... what's the case law on how much initiative does the button presser have to have before they "own" the shot? If all they are are a "voice-activated remote shutter release", then it does not make much sense to attibute the creative right to them. Braineak brings up a valid point.

Now, if I own the camera, and give it to one of my employees to shoot stuff, as part of their job, then is the employee the copyright holder, or is the business that owns the equipment and pays the salary of the employee?

In the US, you the employer would own the copyright as long as:

a. a work prepared by an employee (is) within the scope of his or her employment

OR

b. if the parties expressly agree in a written instrument signed by them that the
work shall be considered a work made for hire.

http://copyright.gov/circs/circ09.pdf

 

[Designer]

I'm with Wiki.......... Public Domain. Hee hee...........

snerd, damn you! I am SO JEALOUS of your new avatar and slogan!

Why didn't I think of that before you did?

 

[snerd]

I'm with Wiki.......... Public Domain. Hee hee...........

snerd, damn you! I am SO JEALOUS of your new avatar and slogan!

Why didn't I think of that before you did?

Years of practice, whippersnapper. :mrgreen:

Or, you snooze, you lose.

 

[astroNikon]

CNN's take on this --> When a monkey takes a selfie ... - CNN.com

 

[Trever1t]

I didn't read all of the previous comments and not sure if anyone has realized this one KEY fact.

The camera was stolen, not handed over to the monkeys. Therefore the images belong to the owner of the camera. A criminal may not profit by sale of property taken in commission of a crime. Statute 12 sec 3 sub 7 (ok I made that last part up) Dude needs to hire me, I would win that case in 11 minutes.

 

[notgreybeard]

This is one of these instances where all commonsense gets thrown out the window and lawyers get richer - A ruling will be made at a cost and no doubt some of the valid arguments raised here will surface and resurface through the courts like a tennis match - be interesting to see the outcome

 

[astroNikon]

I'd like to see the police report on this one if it was truly stolen with criminal intent.

 

[vintagesnaps]

So this means the photographer should have asked the monkey if it wanted to second shoot for him for the day?? or the monkey should have signed its own model release first??

I think Wikipedia found something of a loophole in the photo being in the public domain in that the law doesn't specify the 'author' of a work can't be a monkey!

As Braineac said this was cause and effect, the monkey happened to push the button which caused an interesting noise so it kept pushing it to hear the sound again. The monkey smiling into the camera probably was just it seeing the lens as a shiny object (or maybe a monkey would respond to seeing its reflection in the lens??). I suppose if photographers are going to set up cameras out in the wild and leave them where animals can activate them the copyright law will need to be revised to make it so ownership belongs to whoever set up the camera, if it involves monkeys or other animals that is. Sheesh.

The moral of the story is don't give a camera to a monkey (or a Robbins or a Snerd!).

 

[scythefwd]

I wonder how different this situation is from a standard game cam (with a better and novel pic of course)

 

[hamlet]

I kind of feel bad for all the cute little monkey habitats we've destroyed. In the grand scheme of things, this little slight against a photographer doesn't really account to much. All profits of this image should go to preserving the well being of the monkeys.

 

[gplawhorn]

I wonder how different this situation is from a standard game cam (with a better and novel pic of course)

I just saw a TED talk by Joel Sartore, who said that National Geographic uses a lot of game camera pictures, with the shutter operated by a motion sensor. I would think this means the free stock pic supply just opened waaay up, not a comforting thought.

 

[manaheim]

Also interesting, look at what the photographer is doing about it on his website.

Wildlife Photography and Workshops - David J Slater