Wikipedia holding vote to determine who owns monkey selfie

Online encyclopedia Wikipedia is holding a public vote to determine who owns the copyright to a wildlife photographer’s image of a macaque monkey.

The image was captured when an Indonesian macaque snatched a camera from British wildlife snapper David Slater and proceeded to snap dozens of selfies.

Wikipedia is locked in a dispute with Slater over the ownership of the image, claiming that the monkey is the license holder as it pushed the shutter button.

However, the photographer insists that Wikipedia is jeopardising his income by preventing him from earning royalties from one of his most famous pictures.

Wikimedia, the company behind Wikipedia, will now hold a vote to allow the community decide whether the image should remain public domain.

If the public decides that the image should remain free to distribute, a precedent could be set that sees other photographers lose the rights to their images.

Source: Digital Spy