nettime's monkey lawyer on Thu, 24 Sep 2015 10:59:17 +0200 (CEST) |
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<nettime> Copyright for Apes. PETAs legal case. |
http://www.mediapeta.com/peta/PDF/Complaint.pdf UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA NARUTO, a Crested Macaque, by and through his Next Friends, PEOPLE FOR THE ETHICAL TREATMENT OF ANIMALS, INC., and ANTJE ENGELHARDT, Ph.D. Plaintiff, vs. DAVID JOHN SLATER, an individual, NATURE OF THE CASE 1. Naruto is a free, autonomous six-year-old male member of the Macaca nigra species, also known as a crested macaque, residing in the Tangkoko Reserve on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. In or around 2011 Naruto took a number of photographs of himself, including one image â the internationally famous photograph known as the âMonkey Selfie.â A copy of the Monkey Selfie is attached hereto and incorporated as Exhibit 1. 2. The Monkey Selfie is one of a series of photographs (the âMonkey Selfiesâ) that Naruto made using a camera left unattended by defendant David John Slater (âSlaterâ). The Monkey Selfies resulted from a series of purposeful and voluntary actions by Naruto, unaided by Slater, resulting in original works of authorship not by Slater, but by Naruto. 3. Slater has publically admitted that the Monkey Selfies were taken by Naruto. Nonetheless, Slater has reproduced the Monkey Selfies, claiming that he, rather than Naruto, is their author. <...> PARTIES 14. Naruto is a six-year-old male member of the Macaca nigra species, also known as a crested macaque, residing on the island of Sulawesi, Indonesia. Naruto cannot independently bring this action due to inaccessibility and incapacity. <...> 22. Slater is a professional photographer, residing in the United Kingdom, who claims to be the author and copyright owner of the Monkey Selfies. FACTS 25. Naruto and all crested macaques are highly intelligent, capable of advanced reasoning and learning from experience. 26. Like other primates, including humans, Naruto and all crested macaques have stereoscopic color vision with depth perception and are vision dominant. As a result, visual images, including seeing their reflection in a motor bike mirror or camera lens, are intensely interesting experiences for them. 27. Also like humans and other primates, Naruto possesses grasping hands and opposable thumbs with the ability to move his fingers independently. Because he has fingernails instead of claws, he can bring his fingers together in various manipulatory configurations, including picking up and processing foods, grooming other macaques by removing very small ectoparasites as part of a social bonding exercise integral to the macaque community, and extensive acrobatic climbing and swinging from trees. As such, Narutoâs use of his hands in any activity results from his intentional, purposeful, and concentrated action, not mere happenstance or accident. <...> 29. Because Naruto and his community depend on foraging as their primary means of finding food, they regularly forage in and around the human village, in the process encountering reflective surfaces like motorbike and car mirrors. They also encounter tourists and professional photographers and videographers with their reflective camera lenses. Upon information and belief, throughout his life, Naruto has been accustomed to observing and recognizing his own image in some or all of these reflective surfaces. 30. Upon information and belief, prior to authoring the Monkey Selfies, Naruto was accustomed to seeing cameras, observing cameras being handled by humans, hearing camera mechanisms being operated, and experiencing cameras being used by humans without danger or harm to him or his community. 31. On information and belief, Naruto authored the Monkey Selfies sometime in or around 2011. 32 Slater did not assist Narutoâs authorship of the Monkey Selfies . 33. Upon information and belief, Naruto authored the Monkey Selfies by his independent, autonomous actions in examining and manipulating Slaterâs unattended camera and purposely pushing the shutter release multiple times, understanding the cause- and-effect relationship between pressing the shutter release, the noise of the shutter, and the change to his reflection in the camera lens. <...> PRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, Naruto through the Next Friends respectfully prays for judgment against Defendants as follows: (a) Declaring Naruto to be the author and copyright owner of the Monkey Selfies with all attendant rights and privileges under law; (b) Permanently enjoining and restraining Defendants, their agents, servants, employees, successors, and assigns and all those in active concert or participation with one or either of them, from copying, licensing or otherwise exploiting the Monkey Selfies, and prohibiting Defendants, or any of them, from assisting or authorizing any third party to engage in any of the actions prohibited by this subparagraph; (c) Requiring Defendants to account for all proceeds, expenses and profits related to Defendantsâ infringement of Narutoâs copyright in the Monkey Selfies; (d) Ordering Defendants to disgorge any and all profits from their individual or joint infringements of Narutoâs copyright in the Monkey Selfies; (e) Awarding damages in such amount as may be found, or as otherwise permitted by law. (f) Permitting the Next Friends to administer and protect Narutoâs authorship of and copyright in the Monkey Selfies; by (i) providing that all net proceeds from the sale, licensing and other commercial use of the Monkey Selfies, including Defendantsâ disgorged profits, less necessary and appropriate expenses, be used solely for the benefit of Naruto, his community of crested macaques, and preservation of their habitat; and (ii) providing that PETA report to the Court on such administration and management of Narutoâs copyright in the Monkey Selfies at such times and in such manner as the Court deems proper; (g) Granting Narutoâs full costs, including, as part of such costs, reasonable attorneysâ fees pursuant to 17 U.S.C. Â 505; and (h) Granting Naruto such other and further relief as the Court deems just and proper. # distributed via <nettime>: no commercial use without permission # <nettime> is a moderated mailing list for net criticism, # collaborative text filtering and cultural politics of the nets # more info: http://mx.kein.org/mailman/listinfo/nettime-l # archive: http://www.nettime.org contact: nettime@kein.org