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If a monkey takes a selfie in the forest, who owns the copyright?

6 points| dctoedt | 11 years ago |washingtonpost.com | reply

7 comments

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[+] forca|11 years ago|reply
The man who brought the camera. The monkey cannot legally own things, copyrights or other, so the man owns the photos. 10 years ago this would not even come up. Why have we gotten so "feel good" of late? Life is not unicorns and glitter and nor should it be.
[+] erkose|11 years ago|reply
Suppose instead of a monkey, a human stole the camera and activated the shutter. Who would own the copyright in this scenario? I assume the thief. The consequence of this assumption is that the camera owner is not the copyright owner. The monkey may not be endowed with ownership rights, but this does not mean that the camera owner receives these rights. Instead, no-one owns the copyright, and by "no-one" I mean everyone.
[+] visakanv|11 years ago|reply
Interesting! Are mentally disabled people also unable to legally own things?