英语听力精选进阶版 14482

Monkey business!

Summary

8 August 2014

A row has been going on about just who owns the copyright on a rather unusual selfie. It's of a crested¹ black macaque who took a snap² of herself with a British photographer's camera in Indonesia. The photographer wants Wikipedia to remove the picture from its website - but the Wikimedia Foundation which owns the site won't do it because it says he doesn't own the copyright.

Report

There you are in the national park for a bit of wildlife photography when a monkey comes up to you camera, presses the shutter³ and takes a selfie like any other. That's what happened to British photographer David Slater when he went to Indonesia three years ago. The self-portrait of the crested black macaque went viral and websites like Wikipedia started using it without Mr Slater's permission. 

When he wanted it taken off the site though his request was refused because the Wikipedia Foundation which runs the site, said he didn't take the photo. Wikipedia has started removing links from EU search results under new 'right to be forgotten' rules, but Katherine Maher from the Wikimedia Foundation, which runs the website, says Mr Slater's doesn't qualify⁴ because he doesn't own the copyright of the image. Which begs the question, who does? And it's not the monkey... 

Katherine Maher from the Wikimedia Foundation:

Under US copyright law the copyright cannot be owned by a non-human in this case a monkey; sometimes it can be a machine. So what that means is as that because the monkey took the photo and the photographer, although it was his camera, didn't take that photo there's nobody who the copyright belongs to in this particular instance. It doesn't belong to the monkey, it doesn't belong to the photographer and in cases like that, images and other works fall into the public domain⁵ and so when something is in the public domain it can be used by anyone for any purposes.

Needless⁶ to say that's not what the photographer wanted to hear and he's done with monkeying about...

Photographer, David Slater:

You could look at like this – the monkey was my assistant and therefore I was the artist behind the image and I allowed my assistant to press the button. You know, this needs to be tested in a court of law.

So prepare for the lawyers to start going ape on this one.

1 crested   

adj.有顶饰的，有纹章的，有冠毛的v.到达山顶（或浪峰）( crest的过去式和过去分词 )；到达洪峰，达到顶点

参考例句：

• a great crested grebe 凤头䴙䴘
• The stately mansion crested the hill. 庄严的大厦位于山顶。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》

2 snap   

n.啪地移动，突然断掉；v.猛咬，咬断，谩骂，砰然关上

参考例句：

• He broke off the twig with a snap.他啪地一声把那根树枝折断了。
• These earrings snap on with special fasteners.这副耳环是用特制的按扣扣上去的。

3 shutter   

n.百叶窗；(照相机)快门；关闭装置

参考例句：

• The camera has a shutter speed of one-sixtieth of a second.这架照像机的快门速度达六十分之一秒。
• The shutter rattled in the wind.百叶窗在风中发出嘎嘎声。

4 qualify   

vt.取得资格，有资格，限定，描述；vi.取得资格，有资格

参考例句：

• I won't qualify until next year.我明年才具备资格。
• You must qualify yourself for the post.你必须使自己具备担任这一工作的资格。

5 domain   

n.(活动等)领域，范围；领地，势力范围

参考例句：

• This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
• This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。

6 needless   

adj.不必，无须，不必要的，无用的

参考例句：

• Needless to say,I agree.无须说，我是同意的。
• It is needless to add that you are in want of a second.你需要一个助手，那是不必说的。