Naruto v. Slater: a non-human cannot own a copyright

In Naruto v. Slater, PETA sued on behalf of a crested macaque that had taken a selfie with a wildlife photographer’s camera, asking the court to declare the monkey the copyright owner. The Ninth Circuit held that animals have no standing under the Copyright Act, and the Copyright Office’s own rules exclude works produced by animals or machines without human authorship.

The principle is the same one now applied to AI-generated code. The author must be a human, no matter who owns the camera, the repository, or the AI subscription that produced the work.

This page reflects current U.S. copyright law and general international principles. It is provided for educational purposes and does not constitute legal advice.