No Monkey Copyright says the Feds

[Tin Can]

Just read it here (http://hyperallergic.com/145217/us-copyright-office-says-animals-authors-arent-protected-by-copyright/?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=A+Question+Artists+Hate&utm_content=A+Question+Artists+Hate+CID_7ddb85e4efa2a3eb28f388e85d20f45a&utm_source=HyperallergicNewsletter&utm_term=US%20Copyright%20Office%20Says%20Animal%20Authors%20Arent%20Protected%20by%20Copyright).

Non human image producers are not eligible for copyright...

[Vaughn]

If I set up a trip wire to a camera, a monkey trips the wire, and the camera I set up takes a photo of the monkey...who took the photo?

[Tin Can]

Exactly, you did, and it is the same for all monkey produced images.

A human set it up for the non human.

Hey, I am just finding this idiocy in my email...


If I set up a trip wire to a camera, a monkey trips the wire, and the camera I set up takes a photo of the monkey...who took the photo?

[Drew Wiley]

A few years back there was that cute calendar with cats finger (paw) painting. Their work looked better than most of the allegedly human abstract artistes around
this town, so all this seems unfair. The average feline is probably more literate these days too. But I speak fluent cat myself, so know what they're thinking.
You gotta, if you're the butler to one.

[Vaughn]

What the short internet snippet does not mention, is that the monkey photo in question (and part of a copyright case) was taken without human interaction. I believe the P&S camera was taken (borrowed without permission) by the monkey, who then took a selfie, then the camera owner retrieved the camera. The image went viral, thus setting up the stage for a copyright suit, with the camera owner claiming copyright of the image.

Actually the monkey's selfie is one of the better ones I have seen, including human ones. I do not speak cat, but I find that posture and movement can be effective communication tools. Any position that tends to emote, "I am your slave. What may I be honored to do for you?" seems to be understood by most felines.

But a question came to mind -- a friend grabbed your roll film camera, shot a couple of frames off in the middle, then you got your camera back. Once developed (several months later) the best and only good neg on the roll is the one your friend took, but you don't remember he took it, so you print it up, sell a ton of them -- and then your friend sees one and says, "I took that shot!" Hopefully you are good friends and work it all out in a friendly way. But what about the copyright issue?

[dsphotog]

There's already a thread on this subject in "the lounge"

[Steaphany]

Why not just ask the photographer: Read the whole story about my monkey selfie (http://www.djsphotography.co.uk/)

[Vaughn]

Thanks for the link. It was a digital DSR on a tripod set up to fire...pre-focused and metered. The human photographer kept his hand on the tripod -- as the monkeys tripped out on their reflection in the lens and fiddled with the buttons, taking several images in the process. So it is an interesting question of copyright. In the link, the human photographer even called the monkey "the photographer" of the image (selfie).

Of course, it is only an issue because someone (with no connection with its making) wants to use the image for free.