Thankyou for the facts
The facts as stated here are pretty clear that the photographer owns the photo. Unfortunately the story which went round when it first came out is different.
As summarized here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/08/22/us_copyright_office_rules_monkeys_selfie_public_domain/
in the statement "... a mischievous macaque swiped his camera and was found to have pressed the shutter button a number of times.", the original story which was reported in the papers was that the photographer had left his camera, and come back to find the photo on it. There was no suggestion that he had deliberately posed the camera, as some form of camera-trap.
It may well be that the no-copyright opposition to the photographer are basing their defence on this story rather than the true version highlighted by Andrew.
I wonder how the original story came about? It would take somebody very mean-spirited to suggest that it was made up to make it more likely that papers would buy the photo, on the basis that "monkey takes selfie" is more likely to sell than "monkey triggers camera-trap".
Biting the hand that feeds IT
