Monkey business with a camera

Never mind the infinite monkey theorem reproducing Shakespeare, what we were asked to ponder last week is a lone black macaque commandeering a photographer's unattended camera to shoot a few amusing pictures ... and touch off a copyright debate in the process.

Copyright issues certainly have become more complex in the digital age.

In this instance, professional photographer David Slater was at the center of the monkey business - along with the monkey, of course -- while on a nature shoot in Indonesia.

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Never mind the infinite monkey theorem reproducing Shakespeare, what we were asked to ponder last week is a lone black macaque commandeering a photographer's unattended camera to shoot a few amusing pictures ... and touch off a copyright debate in the process.

Copyright issues certainly have become more complex in the digital age.

In this instance, professional photographer David Slater was at the center of the monkey business - along with the monkey, of course -- while on a nature shoot in Indonesia.

At the center of the copyright debate was the technology blog Techdirt, which claimed that its publication of the photos was covered by fair use even if Slater, his photo agency -- or the monkey -- can claim copyright, which Techdirt maintained that they cannot.

The photo agency sent Techdirt a letter asking that the images be removed from its Web site. Techdirt told the agency to go pound sand.

Great fun.

While possessing no legal training, I am paid to have opinions, so here are a few of mine:

Putting copyright law aside, these photographs clearly belong to Slater in the generally accepted sense of belonging. The camera is his. He brought it to Indonesia. He placed it - however unintentionally -- so as to be accessed by the monkey. He was there throughout the shoot. And he retrieved the photos from his camera once he regained possession of the device.

Absent any single aspect of Slater's participation, the photos are not with us today; in other words, if a monkey takes a picture in the forest and there's no one there to see it, they might as well not exist.

Techdirt is probably on firm ground when asserting that its use of the photos in a blog post examining the copyright issues constitutes fair use.

However, those online outlets that used the pictures because they are cute - and there were many - have much less of a case if the pictures are copyrighted.

And, if the photos are indeed not covered by copyright they should be and those rights should belong to Slater. He's a professional photographer and the pictures are a result of his work. The fact that a monkey helped should not be determinative, in large part because I cannot imagine that lawmakers ever sat around contemplating that particular what-if scenario.

But I'll be just fine if it turns out that copyright belongs to the monkey.

Upcoming Jobs bio renamed

The authorized biography of Steve Jobs that isn't due to be published until next year already has a new name.

Fortune reports: "The old one, iSteve: The Book of Jobs, was chosen by Simon & Schuster's publicity department. The author, Walter Isaacson, was never quite sure about it. His wife and daughter, however, were. They thought it was too cutesy."

Cutesy is one word for it. Pretentious is another. And others might even suggest blasphemous.

Whatever your view of the original, it will now be replaced by this much simpler title: Steve Jobs By Walter Isaacson.

I haven't seen the cover art, but would presume that the first name is in larger type than the second.

Have a better idea? The address is buzz@nww.com.

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