SAN FRANCISCO — Attorneys announced a settlement Monday in a lawsuit over who owns the copyright to selfie photographs taken by a monkey, before the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals could answer the novel legal question.

Under the deal, the photographer, David Slater, whose camera was used to take the photo agreed to donate 25 percent of any future revenue of the images to charities dedicated to protecting crested macaques in Indonesia, lawyers for an animal-rights group said.

The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued on behalf of the macaque monkey in 2015, seeking financial control of the photographs for the benefit of the monkey named Naruto that snapped the photos with Slater’s camera.

“PETA and David Slater agree that this case raises important, cutting-edge issues about expanding legal rights for non-human animals, a goal that they both support, and they will continue their respective work to achieve this goal,” Slater and PETA said in a joint statement.

Lawyers for photographer argued that his company, Wildlife Personalities Ltd., owns worldwide commercial rights to the photos, including a selfie of the monkey’s toothy grin.

Slater argued that he engineered the photographs in 2008 by traveling to an Indonesia jungle, spending three days with a troupe of monkeys to gain their trust and making his camera accessible to the animals.