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What if you go on an expedition specifically to get monkeys to take photos for you? What if you trained them? Is there some threshold amount of work you could
by percentcer 12y ago
What if you go on an expedition specifically to get monkeys to take photos for you? What if you trained them? Is there some threshold amount of work you could put in before you could claim copyright, or would it always belong to the monkey?
- lotsofmangos 12y agoIf the monkeys were trained well enough to understand the intent of taking a photo, but not well enough to understand a contract of employment, then creatively I think they would have to own the work. The fact that the monkey is not trained in pointing a camera is one of the things that might swing it legally away from consideration of ownership by the monkey.
- drivingmenuts 12y agoCan a monkey own a thing under the law? It's an animal. It can be owned, but it cannot itself own something.
- lotsofmangos 12y agoAnimals have been prosecuted as people a number of times in many different countries under the law. I don't see any absolute reason that they could not be granted ownership of something. Even if there was a specific law stating that this was not true, one of the moves available in the game of law is to change the law. Law is a subset of Calvinball.
- Daishiman 12y agoIf you're training a monkey who has no concept of art but you'll be orchestrating their actions for aesthetics according to your criteria then it seems evident that it qualifies for your authorship given your clear intent at achieving that specific action. Like most things, it gets looked at on a case by case basis.