This article explores questions of whether copyright protection can and
should extend to works created by captive animals such as gorillas,
chimpanzees, and elephants. Commentators have considered similar
questions in the artificial intelligence context and generally rejected the
notion that computers can create works sufficiently free of human
involvement to merit copyright protection. As our understanding of animal
intelligence increases, however, the case for reconsideration of copyright’s
constitutional and statutory boundaries becomes stronger. This article
examines those boundaries and offers a proposal for granting limited
copyrights to animals under a theory along the lines of David Favre’s
equitable self-ownership concept.