{IPLaw} When a Monkey is GGSS (Gandang Ganda Sa Sarili)

The general rule in copyright ownership is that the copyright over a work belongs to the author of the work.

But what happens when a monkey grabs a photographer's camera to take a selfie?

From Wikimedia Commons

Can the photographer claim copyright over the work? Wildlife photographer, David Slater, sure hopes so.

In 2011, while Slater was traipsing through Indonesia to take pictures of the crested black macaque, one of the monkeys filched Slater's camera and started taking perhaps the awesomest self-portraits I have seen in a while. Definitely better than those GGSS (Gandang Ganda Sa Sarili) shots that have invaded cyberspace. Here is another one:

From Wikimedia Commons

Awesome, ei?

The monkey's selfies have since gone viral, and have been made available for free under Wikimedia Foundation's Wikimedia Commons. This prompted Slater to send a takedown request to Wikimedia, claiming that he is the copyright owner and that Wikimedia is costing him royalties. Wikimedia denied the takedown request, arguing that the monkey's selfies are part of the public domain. Undaunted, Slater turned to the U.S. Copyright Office for redress.

Now the ball is in the U.S. Copyright Office's court.

[EDIT: Looks like the U.S. Copyright Office weighed in on the monkey selfies. See here.]