There is a good pirate story making its way through the U.S. Supreme Court. The story involves the famous pirate Blackbeard whose flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge, wrecked off North Carolina in 1718. But the pirate under the Court’s scrutiny is not Blackbeard; it is the State of North Carolina that is accused of piracy, or more specifically, copyright infringement. The Court is being asked to decide whether the state may hide behind its sovereign immunity to avoid a film producer's claims against the state for infringing his federally registered copyrights.

For years Rick Allen and his production company, Nautilus Productions, filmed the salvage of the Queen Anne's Revenge, and Allen lawfully protected his works through federal copyright registration. North Carolina insisted on publishing Allen’s protected works without his permission for its own gain, and went so far as to enact “Blackbeard's Law” declaring Allen's works as "public records" to legitimize its infringement. When Allen sued North Carolina in federal court, the state invoked its sovereign immunity under the 11th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, and the case is now on appeal to the Supreme Court.

In his opening brief filed on August 6, Allen addressed “whether Congress’s power to secure to authors exclusive rights to federal copyrights properly overcomes State’s immunity for infringing those copyrights.” Allen contends that the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990, 17 U.S.C. §§ 501(a) and 511(a), enacted to protect copyrights against state infringement, was a valid congressional abrogation of state sovereign immunity. On August 12 and 13, no less than twenty-one amicus curiae (“friends of the court”) came to Allen’s aid by filing supporting briefs. The broad array of amicus curiae includes the Recording Industry Association of America, North American Nature Photography Association, the Graphic Artists Guild, Dow Jones & Company, Oracle America, two bar associations, and a group of constitutional law professors.

The case is captioned Frederick L. Allen and Nautilus Productions, LLC v. Roy A. Cooper, III, as Governor of North Carolina, et al., Cause No. 18-877. North Carolina's response brief is due September 20, and oral argument before the Court is scheduled for November 5. Stay tuned for the outcome of this important copyright case.

#shipwreck #shipwrecklaw #maritimeheritage



