Photographer wins 'monkey selfie' legal battle after agreeing to pay royalties

A photographer has won a bizarre two-year legal battle over a “monkey selfie” after judges ruled in his favour.

The now-iconic image shows Naruto the macaque monkey, who accidentally photographed himself in the Indonesian jungle in 2011 after picking up a camera owned by David Slater.

But People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) made an intervention on the “monkey’s behalf”, saying it should benefit from any income from the sale of the image.

After a 24-month fight, US judges had said copyright protection could not be applied to the monkey.

Slater, who says he lost thousands in income as a result of the court action, has agreed to donate 25 per cent of any future revenue.

A joint statement, from Peta and Slater, said the photographer would give money to charities “dedicated to protecting the welfare or habitat of Naruto”.

The statement added that this case “raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for non-human animals”.

“Peta’s groundbreaking case sparked a massive international discussion about the need to extend fundamental rights to animals for their own sake, not in relation to how they can be exploited by humans,” said Peta lawyer Jeff Kerr.

After the photographs became popular — and Slater earned a few thousand pounds from selling them – they became the subject of a complicated legal battle after Slater asked Wikipedia to stop using them without permission.

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Wikipedia claimed that the photograph was uncopyrightable because the monkey was the actual creator of the image.

Although the US Copyright Office ruled that animals cannot own copyrights, in 2015, Peta filed a suit against Slater on behalf of the macaque.

Mr Slater, of Chepstow, argued that his effort was more than enough for him to claim copyright. He also said interest in the image had already helped animals in Indonesia.

“It wasn’t serendipitous monkey behaviour,” he previously argued. “It required a lot of knowledge on my behalf, a lot of perseverance, sweat and anguish, and all that stuff.”

In the unusual case, which was listed as “Naruto v David Slater”, the identity of the monkey was in dispute.

Peta claimed that it is a female called Naruto and Slater said it is a different male macaque.

Earlier in the year, Slater said: “Photographing and publicising their plight was the main driver when I visited the island.

“Not only did I raise money for the conservation project, through canvas sales kindly donated by Picanova and direct print sales, but I helped the group to promote a new code of ethics when visiting these macaques in Sulawesi.”

“Every photographer dreams of a photograph like this,” Slater said. “If everybody gave me a pound for every time they used [the photograph], I’d probably have £40m in my pocket. The proceeds from these photographs should have me comfortable now, and I’m not.”