Who Is The Artist In This Photo? Who Owns Copyright?

Octopus.... I reckon

They are amazingly intelligent creatures. Hmmm. Perhaps.

There was a big thing last year about a monkey that took a photo, this is a link to one of the articles:

http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/aug/06/wikipedia-monkey-selfie-copyright-artists

Aren't they meant to be more intelligent than a pig or dog?

Who, photographers?

Rofl. And Dorothy found a precedent. Isn't that how US law is written, anyway?

Octopus isn't a human so they can't hold a copyright. Goes to the owner of the camera.

There are plenty of famous photographers who work with teams and are not the one who pushes the button. Gregory Crewdson comes to mind. Movie directors don't "push the button" but get credit for creating the movie. There are also plenty of contemporary painters who don't touch a brush but rather direct a factory of artists.

I'd say the Octopus is in a "work for hire" position.

Throughout the many years I've been out there peddling my "Art", many,many monkees, even many fine photographers have taken photos of me and my work..

Sometimes with my knowledge, often without.

I claim ownership and rights to all those images....No matter what the copyright laws might say.

I AM THE ARTIST IN THOSE PHOTOS

At times, I come to an understanding with the photographer (as with this fellow FAA member) upon discovering it's publication.

He can profit from the photo, as long as I'm acknowledged as the subject....And I can use the image as I see fit.

That octopus was self-contracted. Volunteer work, if you will. The researcher set the GoPro to auto shoot and then the octopus got a hold of it, so it was shooting on it's own. I do like how the photo turned out, very bemused expression on the owner of the camera!

Thanks for sharing that...great way to start my day!

No one as the octopus has no recognized right to copyright ownership.

Note that I am not a lawyer and hold no expertise in copyright or octopus law. All previous comments should be considered personal opinion and not advice to humans or octopi. :)

I'm pretty sure Mike Savad owns it.

I'm an advocate for the rights and dignity of primates. Therefor who ever is in the charge of a captive monkey has the copyrights to things made by this monkey. Share the planet. Pay the monkey!s

Very artistic!

*starts up copyright for octopi*

It probably is not as cut and dry as it appears. First, as Dorothy mentioned, there was the monkey selfie last year where it was ruled the human photographer whose camera was used does NOT own the copyright to the photo the monkey took. Secondly, the article I read did not state whether the human photog was a student of the school or a faculty member or who the camera belong to that the octopus used. They may also factor into who owns the copyright.

Most animals who's images are "taken" by people with cameras deserve some respect. Look at those safari wildlife films.........the animals have NO privacy from glaring tourist camera snappers either.
The country where the animals are photographed and used to make money should be compensated by the photographers enough to help conservation efforts at the least. Same for primitive people who get rich tourists snapping shots of them and making money from the sale of images of them. It's being fair to the fellow inhabitants of the earth.

Marlene,

Mike would only be critical of this work. Mike's work is perfect just ask him.

I think Mike is the professor in these shots.

Dave

In my opinion, Ben Savard is the owner of the copywright because he is the person who technically took the picture. Let me explain: The image was taken with a GoPro which Mr. Savard had set to capture multiple exposures over a period of time. When he positioned the camera, the octopus simply grabbed it and moved it around as the camera took pictures. Therefore, the ocotoups did not take the image but simply moved the camera.

Andres;

You described what happened with the monkey selfie as well, yet they decided the photographer who set up the camera did not own the copyright. Also, is he a faculty member or a student? Whose camera was he using? Does that matter?

That's one funny octopus.

I will pose the counter question that Mr Savard may only have copyright on the images taken while the camera was in his control. Since the camera is capturing multiple images, it seems to me that each frame of the video can be considered as having potential copyright. So, let's say I started recording on a video camera, I then handed that to a friend who walked around the block pointing it at anything that interested him, and then gave it back to me. Who owns the copyright to the frames that he, not I, took? ;)

;)

Possession is 9/10's of the law. Who has the original right now?

Octopies or Octopussy's !! without a doubt, s/ he fired the shot!
edit:
ok its not crystal clear, after all who owned the camera, who posed and wheres the 8 written and signed agreements that all legs/ arms were unanimous... i mean these legs / arms have been said to have a mind of their own.... how many hearts! how many brains? lol

3 hearts!! wow!!

Wow, yet another non-story. "Octopus picks up object that happens to be a self-firing camera." Are we that starved for news?

Not sure about the laws, but hat's off to the octopus for photogrpahing its surroundings in an interesting way instead of inflicting another selfie on the world!

Yes, we do need a like button here. Kudos Nola.

Yes Richard. We are. An even better story would be, "Octopus beats out Peter Lik's record-breaking sale by selling image to an un-named art collector for $7,000,000" When asked for comment, Mr. Lik replied "hmph...if I had eight arms I would beat that octopus silly"