Sunday, August 24, 2014

Monkey has no copyright, authority says

Can a monkey have copyright upon its works?


It seems a ridiculous question at a glance. However, the US Copyright Office made a sincere answer against it in an official report. According to it, animals, as well as God and supernatural power, have no right to declare copyright. Quite ordinary thoughts.

Copyright.gov: Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition

The Telegraph: Monkeys, ghosts and gods 'cannot own copyright' says US

This fact can be a reply for a controversy occurred some years ago. In 2011, David Slater, a photographer had his camera robbed by a monkey. It took several photos on its own before returning the camera. One of these photos became famous as a selfie by a monkey.

Slater got annoyed that the photo was published in Wikimedia. He requested for the deleting, but Wikimedia declined his claim, for the reason that the photo belonged to the public domain.

Ars Technica: Monkey’s selfie at center of copyright brouhaha

The report written by the American authority is on Slater's side. Furthermore, he has an opportunity to declare the copyright of these photos because he contributed to create them under the Britain law.

Ars Technica: Monkey’s selfie cannot be copyrighted, US regulators say

It is no doubt that the modern legal system ignores the existence of being other than human. Nowadays, the right of animals is sometimes discussed as an issue of ethics.

In the near future, a robot will create some splendid works. Whom the copyright of such works belongs to? How about the record of a Chess game performed by two AI programs? We soon encounter the era of SciFi in which there is a legislation about the right of robots.

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