Practice Area(s):
CopyrightOn August 19, 2014, the Register of Copyrights, Maria A. Pallante, released a public draft of the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices, Third Edition (the “Compendium Third Edition”).
In the draft, the U.S. Copyright Office makes it clear that a photograph taken by a monkey is not considered registrable because it was not created by a human being. Thus, the monkey “selfie” that has attracted so much media attention in recent weeks cannot be registered.
The U.S. Copyright Office explains under Section 306:
