The Monkey In The Machine

In 2011, a Celebes crested macaque took a shot that was heard 'round the world. In a jungle in Indonesia, it depressed the remote trigger button of a photographer's camera, effectively taking a selfie. The "monkey selfie" has ignited a great deal of commentary musing on the nature of copyright ownership. The human photographer claimed that he was the author of the photograph because he had "engineered" the shot and that "it was my artistry and idea to leave them to play with the camera and it was all in my eyesight. I knew the monkeys were very likely to do this and I predicted it. I knew there was a chance of a photo being taken." Wikimedia Commons, among others, disagreed and posted the photograph on its website claiming that the photograph was in the public domain because its true author was a monkey. The U.S. Copyright Office has implicitly agreed with Wikimedia by including "a photograph taken by a monkey" in a list of examples of unprotectable "Works that Lack