The output of a machine simply does not qualify for copyright protection – it is in the public domain. Is it just me or is that a patently ridiculous statement

The output of a machine simply does not qualify for copyright protection – it is in the public domain. Is it just me or is that a patently ridiculous statement? The output of a machine belongs to the person owning/using the machine. If I use a digital camera to take a picture of a copyrighted image I'm still committing copyright infringement despite the output being created by a machine and a bunch of image processing software.