Who Can Create Copyrightable Work In Canada? Musings On A Monkey's Selfie

Dubbed the winner of the US Chamber of Commerce most ridiculous lawsuit of 2015 award, Naruto, et al. v David John Slater¹ examined whether a monkey could have copyright in its selfie. A few weeks ago, the final chapter was put to paper when the parties settled, thus depriving us of the Court of Appeal's deliberations. While many in the legal community dismissed the case as a publicity stunt, it raises an intriguing question: can copyright, a human construct of exclusive ownership, be extended to non-humans? And, perhaps more importantly, should it?

This bulletin summarises the US court's conclusions and considers how this novel matter might be addressed in Canada. The escalation of computer-assisted or generated creativity means that copyrightable material born outside the human mind is becoming less the stuff of science fiction and, like it or not, is finding its way into the court system. By examining the foundation of our copyright laws, one can hypothesize how