Apparently, a monkey took a selfie of himself and the picture went viral. PETA then sued the photographer who published the picture claiming that the monkey’s copyright privileges were infringed. The District Court granted the photographer’s motion to dismiss on the grounds that PETA did not have standing to sue for the monkey.
Subsequently, the parties settled before the appellate decision was decided. Notwithstanding the out of court settlement, the 9th Circuit upheld the district court ruling and took the opportunity to publish an opinion bashing the position taken PETA. The Court essentially argued that PETA was using the monkey as a “pawn to be manipulated on a chessboard” and that “we have no idea whether animals or objects wish to own copyrights or open bank accounts to hold their royalties from sales of pictures.”