Exactly. The only reason the image is worth anything is the monkey took the photo. The owner of the photographic gear seems to be arguing both that it is his photo and not his photo.

Really? Because it's a pretty great picture just by itself, IMHO.

I agree that it's a good picture. But "I took a great picture of a monkey" doesn't sell nearly as well as "This monkey took a great picture of himself". "I took a great picture of a monkey" doesn't get you articles about that picture, "This monkey took a great picture of himself" definitely does.

Yes it is a great picture, but it would not be not worth anything (I mean economically, not artistically) if it was not taken by the monkey.