In this 2011 photo provided by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) shows a selfie taken by a macaque monkey on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi with a camera that was positioned by British nature photographer David Slater.

A rare crested macaque that took a now internationally famous “selfie” cannot own the copyright to the photograph because he is not human, a US judge ruled in a suit brought by animal rights group PETA on behalf of the monkey.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals brought the case in September on behalf of the seven-year-old monkey Naruto against British photographer David Slater, who self-published the photo in a wildlife book.

Naruto, who resides on a reserve in Indonesia, took the image and several others in 2011 using a camera left unattended by Slater, the suit said. PETA argued he should be declared owner of the photos and receive damages for copyright infringement that would be used for habitat preservation.

While the US Congress and the president have the power to extend legal protections to animals as well as humans, “there is no indication that they did so in the Copyright Act,” US District Judge William Orrick said at a hearing on Wednesday in federal court in San Francisco, according to a court transcript.

But Orrick said he would give PETA an opportunity to amend the lawsuit before he dismisses it outright. PETA published the photo in the case online at bit.ly/1V8Hnnl.

Related articles across the web

• CPS Students To Stage District-Wide School Lunch Boycott Thursday
• Ellie Goulding And Professor Green Are The UK's Hottest Vegetarians
• Russell Simmons Writes Concerned Letter To Lululemon Regarding Down Feathers
• San Diego Teen Nets PETA National Award for SeaWorld Protests
• Scoop on Jillian Michaels' New E! Reality Show Just Jillian! ''It's Sort of Like a Big, Gay Modern Family''
• Peta campaigners hit the streets to spread the message of animal cruelty and Tofurkey
• Hayes Grier & Puppy Zan Appear In New peta2 Ad - See It Here!
• NIH to stop baby monkey experiments
• U.S. National Institutes of Health Will Stop Baby Monkey Experiments
• Vidya Balan, Virat Kohli among signatories to keep Jallikattu banned