Wednesday, August 13, 2014

Copyright can sometimes be monkey business

Or, female crested macaque business, to be more precise.

Not the macaque photo in question!
Photo Credit: Angela N.

Copyright gives people the ability to control who may put their work on a website, news article, etc.

Consider this recent copyright issue. A photographer gave his camera to a female crested macaque. The macaque took photos, including a selfie with a full grin. The photographer claimed that he had copyright over this image since he set up the camera for the macaque. Wikimedia has claimed that this photo was in the public domain (meaning anyone can use it or post it online without paying for it) since the macaque took the image and animals do not have copyright protection of their work.

This photographer thinks websites and other media outlets should pay him to get the rights to post the photo. This issue is going to court to decide if the photographer has the copyright on this photo. Read this for more information and to see the photo in question.

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