The case of the monkey who took the best selfie photos you've ever seen has reached the appeals court.
The story began two years ago, when an Indonesian macaque monkey named Naruto grabbed photographer David Slater's camera and started taking selfies, which were so successful that they went viral online.
Slater's exploitation of these photos was stopped by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), an animal rights organization, which sued the photographer in an attempt to claim ownership of the selfies on behalf of the monkey.
The photographer has spent years in a copyright lawsuit, and is now penniless. The Guardian reports that the 52-year-old photographer has run out of money and is now either coaching tennis or walking dogs to make ends meet.
The case has reached the appeals court, however, with the key question remaining: who owns the rights to the photos? the monkey that took the selfies or Slater, who owns the camera, since technically the monkey was the one who pressed the button.
The U.S. Copyright Office said in 2014 that it cannot assign copyright to animals, and a judge ruled in 2016 that the monkey cannot claim copyright to the famous selfies.
The case has since made its way to a federal appeals court, which this week heard arguments from both sides. Slater, who lacked the funds to attend the hearing in San Francisco, was forced to watch the hearing via live stream from his home in the United Kingdom.
"Every photographer dreams of a photo like this," Slater told the Guardian. "If everyone gave me a pound (a cent) for every time they used the photo, I would have probably £40 million in my pocket. The income from these photos should have allowed me to live comfortably now, but I don't."
