A San Francisco judge on Wednesday ruled that a macaque monkey, now famous for taking its own selfies (pictured above), cannot be declared the copyright owner of the photographs. The lawsuit, filed by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, sought to administer all proceeds from the photographs for the benefit of the monkey, identified as six-year-old Naruto.

The photos were taken in 2011 in Sulawesi, Indonesia, with nature photographer David Slater’s equipment. Slater asked the court to dismiss the case, saying that the British copyright of the photos had been obtained by his company Wildlife Personalities Ltd. The photos have been widely distributed by various outlets, including Wikipedia, contending that no one owns the copyright to the images because they were taken by an animal, and not a human being.

AP reported that the United States last year updated its laws, including a stipulation that it would register copyrights only for work produced by human beings.