A judge has ruled that Naruto the monkey cannot be declared the copyright owner of the now-famous selfie photograph.
U.S. District Judge William Orrick said in federal court in San Francisco 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."
The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sought to become the legal representative of the monkey, a crested macaque who lives in a reserve on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. The selfie photos were taken during a 2011 trip with an unattended camera owned by British nature photographer David Slater.
Slater obtained a British copyright for the photos through his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., and argued the copyright should be honored worldwide.
PETA sued Slater and his self-publishing company Blurb, which published a book called "Wildlife Personalities" that includes the "monkey selfie" photos. The photos have also been widely distributed online.
After the ruling, Jeff Kerr, general counsel for PETA, said, "Despite this setback, legal history was made today because we argued to a federal court why Naruto should be the owner of the copyright rather than been seen as a piece of property himself."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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