A crested macaque named Naruto walked up to photographer David John Slater’s camera and pressed the shutter and took a “monkey selfie”.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals didn’t get a warm welcome from the Ninth Circuit in Naruto v. Slater, the “monkey selfie copyright case.”
The federal appellate court ruled Monday that monkeys don’t have standing under the Copyright Act to bring such a case, even with PETA acting as “next friend.” The three judges on the case argued that “next friends” are intended to represent incompetent or incarcerated persons—not animals—and called on their Ninth Circuit colleagues to reconsider en banc the use of next friends.
