BBC Learning English

Words in the News

Monkey business!
8 August 2014
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Words in the News British Broadcasting Corporation 2014
Page 1 of 2
bbclearningenglish.com



A row has been going on about just who owns the copyright on a rather unusual selfie.
It's of a crested black macaque who took a snap of herself with a British photographer's
camera in Indonesia. The photographer wants Wikipedia to remove the picture from its
website - but the Wikimedia Foundation which owns the site won't do it because it says
he doesn't own the copyright. Susana Mendona reports for the BBC:

There you are in the national park for a bit of wildlife photography when a monkey comes
up to you camera, presses the shutter and takes a selfie like any other. That's what
happened to British photographer David Slater when he went to Indonesia three years
ago. The self-portrait of the crested black macaque went viral and websites like
Wikipedia started using it without Mr Slater's permission.

When he wanted it taken off the site though his request was refused because the
Wikipedia Foundation which runs the site, said he didn't take the photo. Wikipedia has
started removing links from EU search results under new 'right to be forgotten' rules, but
Katherine Maher from the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the website, says Mr
Slater's doesn't qualify because he doesn't own the copyright of the image. Which
begs the question, who does? And it's not the monkey...

Katherine Maher from the Wikimedia Foundation:
Under US copyright law the copyright cannot be owned by a non-human in this case a
monkey; sometimes it can be a machine. So what that means is as that because the
monkey took the photo and the photographer, although it was his camera, didn't take
that photo there's nobody who the copyright belongs to in this particular instance. It
doesn't belong to the monkey, it doesn't belong to the photographer and in cases like
that, images and other works fall into the public domain and so when something is in
the public domain it can be used by anyone for any purposes.

Needless to say that's not what the photographer wanted to hear and he's done with
monkeying about
Photographer, David Slater:
You could look at like this the monkey was my assistant and therefore I was the artist
behind the image and I allowed my assistant to press the button. You know, this needs
to be tested in a court of law.

So prepare for the lawyers to start going ape on this one.


Words in the News British Broadcasting Corporation 2014
Page 2 of 2
bbclearningenglish.com


Vocabulary and definitions

selfie photo that you take of yourself on a smartphone, usually for
use on social media
self-portrait picture of yourself that you draw, paint or photograph
viral everywhere, spreading quickly via internet and social media
so that many people see it
refused not accepted
qualify (here) have the right
copyright legal ownership and control of how it is used
begs the question makes us ask a particular and important question
public domain place where something is available for everyone to see and
know about
going ape getting angry



Read and listen to the story and the vocabulary online:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/language/wordsinthenews/2014/08/140808_witn_monkey.shtml

Related story:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-gloucestershire-28674167