Circuit Court of Appeals 'to dismiss the case and throw out a lower court decision that said animals cannot own copyrights,' The Associated Press reports. Under the deal, Slater agreed to donate 25 percent of future revenue from the photos to groups that protect crested macaques and their habitat in Indonesia. On Monday, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals announced a settlement with photographer David Slater, ending a lawsuit it filed on Naruto's behalf. Copyright Office and even Wikipedia weighed in. It also started a years-long saga in which the U.S. But it raised a complicated question: Who owns the images Naruto took, the monkey or the man? Whether the act was intentional or a quite-too-literal instance of monkeying around, only the grinning primate knows for certain. On one particular day, however, the photogenic primate happened upon a wildlife photographer's camera and snapped a 'monkey selfie.' The photo has been the subject of a years-long copyright battle.īack in 2011, Naruto was just an anonymous macaque in the jungles of Indonesia. Naruto, a macaque, took this self-portrait in 2011 with a camera owned by photographer David Slater.

Pictures of naruto