This is not a clever decision...
... but one which will be very convenient for those who want to nick this man's work.
This man did not accidentally stumble upon a mobile phone containing the 'selfie' while on an expedition with his mates in the middle of the jungle. He did not find a mobile phone containing the picture in the street, and then attempt to peddle it in order to make money and become famous; he was not part of a group that witnessed the monkey taking a photograph of itself, and then decided to appropriate the outcome for personal gain, beating everybody else to the mark.
The photograph was taken:
- Using the man's equipment
- In the absence of any witnesses
- Under circumstances known only to and controlled solely by him
- And the photograph was introduced to the world by him, and could only have been introduced by him.
In view of the circumstances, and given the wide range of media and installations involving various forms of trickery and techniques, including in the realm of photography, that are accepted and protected nowadays as works of art, this photograph should surely be considered as a protected work belonging to the man, regardless of his claim that a monkey took it - which in any case, I regard as suspect on account of the clarity and quality of the image, when compared with the 'selfies' that I myself have taken (I am not comparing my photography skills to the man, but to the monkey). This is of course merely a personal opinion...