People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) filed a lawsuit on behalf of a monkey named Naruto who stole the camera of British photographer Jason Slater and took a picture of himself. Slater subsequently published the picture, received compensation for the photo, and claimed copyright ownership of the image.
PETA took issue with the copyright claim, and a filed a lawsuit on behalf of Naruto claiming that the monkey owned the copyright. The judge dismissed the lawsuit with the explanation that “While Congress and the president can extend the protection of law to animals as well as humans, there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act.”
PETA immediately lodged a notice of appeal. No, we are not kidding.