Ira Sacks and Evelina Gentry published an article in Intellectual Property & Technology Law Journal explaining Allen v. Cooper, which the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in November. The case presented “whether Congress validly abrogated state sovereign immunity via the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act… in providing remedies for authors of original expression whose federal copyrights are infringed by States.”
“Since 1998, Frederick Allen and his production company Nautilus Productions (together “Allen”), have been the exclusive photographers of the shipwreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge, the flagship of Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the pirate. Coincidentally, the ship was named for Queen Anne, who gave royal consent to the Statute of Anne, the first British copyright act. Allen registered his photographic works with the U.S. Copyright Office.”
“In 2013, Allen alleged that the State of North Carolina (the “State”) posted online his copyrighted works without his consent. The parties entered into a settlement agreement, requiring the State to compensate Allen for the prior infringement. Subsequently, Allen discovered the State continued to use his copyrighted works and accused it of breaching the settlement agreement. In response, the State passed a law making all photographs and video material of shipwrecks in custody of North Carolina public record and available for use without limitations.”