Photographer, Wikipedia in copyright battle over monkey's 'selfie'

A British photographer whose camera was used by a monkey to take a "selfie" has declared a copyright war against Wikipedia, which has been providing the image to Internet users for free.

David Slater is frustrated he hasn't seen a dime from the now-viral photo of a crested black macaque which somehow got hold of his camera and grinned toothily into the lens at an Indonesia forest in 2011.

Wikimedia, the foundation behind Wikipedia, claims that the image is in the public domain because it was a monkey that had taken the shot and monkeys can't hold copyrights. The picture first appeared on Wikimedia Commons, a collection of images free for public use, in January, and Wikimedia has refused to remove it.

Slater, who plans to battle Wikimedia in court, says he should be credited for the photo considering the investment he made in buying the cameras and navigating the Indonesian forest. The monkey which pushed the button should be regarded as his "assistant," he claims.

"In law, if I have an assistant then I still own the copyright," Slater told the "Today" show on American channel NBC. "I believe there's a case to be had that the monkey was my assistant."

Jay Caspian Kang, the science and technology editor at New Yorker, found Slater's argument disagreeable.

"Without intent (… Slater did not specifically set up an environment to take a photo), clear direction (monkeys do not listen to anyone), or an employer-employee agreement (no monkeys signed anything), Slater's claims that the monkeys were acting on his behalf are absurd," Kang wrote.

"If any reasonable person left her laptop in a cafe, and a poet picked it up, opened up a word-processing program, and typed out this generation's Dream Songs, could she reasonably ask for much more than her laptop back? And, since the poems were so good, maybe a selfie with this new Berryman?"

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