The case of the monkey that pulled the best has reached the court of appeals selfies photos you have never seen.
The story started before two years, when an Indonesian monkey macaque with the name Naruto, grabbed the camera photographer David Slater, and began to pull selfies, which were so successful, they went viral on Internet.
Slater's exploitation of these photos was stopped by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), an animal rights group, which sued the photographer in an attempt to claim ownership of the selfies for account of the monkey.
The photographer has spent years in a copyright dispute, and now he is out of the question. OR Guardian mentions that the 52-year-old photographer has run out of money and is now working either by practicing the tennis coach or by taking a dog ride to ensure a livelihood.
However, the case has reached the Court of Appeal, with the crucial question being: to whom do the rights of the photographs belong? the monkey who pulled the selfies or the Slater belonging to the camera, since technically the monkey was the one who pressed the key.
The US Copyright Office has told 2014 that it can not assign copyright to animals, and a judge ruled 2016 that the monkey can not claim the copyrights of the famous selfies.
Since then, the case has taken the road to the federal court of appeals, which this week heard arguments from both sides. Slater, not having the funds to attend the hearing in San Francisco, was forced to attend the live hearing stream from his home in the UK.
"Every photographer dreams of a photo like this," says Slater in the Guardian. "If everyone would give me one pound for every time I use the photo, I would probably have 40 million pounds in my pocket. The revenue from these photos should have made me live comfortably now, but I do not live. "
