David J. Slater

David J. Slater (* in Blackburn ) is an English photographer .

Life

David J. Slater has been involved in wildlife photography since he was 14. He specialized in wildlife photography and the representation of natural landscapes. He is currently the managing director and photographer of DJSPhotography .

Copyright dispute

Naruto

A copyright battle between David J. Slater and the animal rights organization PETA received worldwide attention . 2011 came Schopfmakaken -Männchen named Naruto on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi in an unattended situation in the possession of Salters camera and shot including a selfie of himself. The camera owner regularly marketed the recordings in his name. The animal welfare organization PETA then sued the photographer in 2015 for a copyright infringement because it was of the opinion that the monkey was the person who pressed the shutter and was therefore the owner of the image rights under international law. The case was discussed controversially - mainly on social media - because for the first time a decision had to be made as to whether an animal, which is considered a thing in the legal sense , has a personal right and can thus acquire a copyright.

In the first instance, PETA lost the trial. After two years, in autumn 2017, the legal dispute was initially settled out of court. From now on, the photographer will donate 25 percent of the proceeds from the selfie pictures to organizations that are dedicated to the protection of Naruto and his fellows.

In the spring of 2018, however, an appeals court in San Francisco rejected the fall 2017 settlement, thereby confirming the original first-instance decision on the grounds that monkeys had no status to assert a copyright in the lawsuit. A lawsuit by people on behalf of animals is only possible if this is expressly provided for in the law. There was criticism of PETA because of its approach as a "close friend" of the monkey, because the court could not find any significant relationship between the organization and the animal. In addition, after the out-of-court settlement on the donation from the proceeds of the pictures, in which the monkey was not involved, PETA tried to have the proceedings discontinued. This suggests that PETA only pursues its own interests and uses the animal as an “unsuspecting puppet” for the PETA ideology. As a result, on April 24, 2018, the San Francisco Court of Appeals decided to dismiss the lawsuit.

Slater filed a lawsuit himself in early 2018. It was directed against the German punk band Terrorgruppe , which used the photo in 2016 for the cover design of their album Tiergarten , against donations and various fundraising campaigns for Chances for Nature eV , which is located in Naruto's homeland, in the Tangkoko Duasaudara reserve , especially in the Tangkoko Conservation Education program engaged.

Web links

• Official website of DJSPhotography

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Laura Hertreiter: Dispute over monkey selfie settled . In: sueddeutsche.de . September 12, 2017, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed April 25, 2018]).
2. ^ Dpa: Bizarre dispute over monkey selfie settled . In: Weser courier . September 12, 2017 ( weser-kurier.de [accessed April 25, 2018]).
3. ↑ The long-standing dispute over the monkey selfie has come to an end . In: stern.de . September 12, 2017 ( stern.de [accessed April 25, 2018]).
4. ↑ tagesschau.de: Judgment on monkey selfie: Monkey has no right to copyright. April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 25, 2018 . 
5. ↑ Makake Naruto has no right to his own image . In: sueddeutsche.de . April 24, 2018, ISSN  0174-4917 ( sueddeutsche.de [accessed April 25, 2018]).
6. ^ Terror group - Naruto donation film , video clip on YouTube , accessed on March 24, 2018
7. ↑ Press release of March 16, 2018 on the group's official website: March 16, 2018: Photo camera owner threatens terrorist group. Archived from the original on March 25, 2018 ; accessed on April 7, 2019 .