When British photographer David J. Slater was visiting a park in Indonesia, his camera (take) away by a group of black monkeys. The result was hundreds of monkey selfies(自拍照). The best (one) show a monkey smiling toothily for the camera. Slater then sold the photos and they became popular the Internet.
Nobody knew they would create a copyright(版权) battle three years (late).
Not long ago, a website put the monkey selfies online under a collection of free photos Slater's permission(允许). Slater asked the website (take) them down since he owned the copyright.
, the website refused to do so. They said that according to US copyright law, whoever pushes the button on the camera owns the copyright of the photo. It was the monkeys but not Slater that pushed the button.
They said, "US copyright law says that works that come from a non-human source can't ask for copyright. That (mean) monkeys don't own copyright."
Slater argued that the pictures belonged to him as they were taken from his camera. He said he bought the camera; he spent a lot of money (travel) to Indonesia; and it was his carelessness that allowed the monkeys to take his camera away. All these have made him own the pictures, no matter pushed the button. In a sense, the monkeys helped him take the photos.
