Gotta agree the comment on the article by acitrano - they probably do own copyright to the picture, but to reveal why outside of court would needlessly undermine the trope which has made it famous.

Indeed, I presume that surfacing "the legal angle" was a motivation for sending lawyer letters in the first place.

After this press hit and the "bird absconding with camera" video, I'm sure there are a lot of wheels turning about how to spin another viral play on animals "stealing" products to use themselves. You won't have to wait long to see the next one.