Intellectual Property Infringement Case – Faith Mitchell

Allen v. Cooper: “Piracy” Claim

In 1718, a ship called Queen Anne’s Revenge, which belonged to a pirate named Blackbeard, sank off North Carolina’s coast. In 1996, the wreckage, which belongs to North Carolina by law, was found and a company was hired to salvage it (Teska). Frederick Allen, a videographer, took images and videos of the recovery of the ship and gained the copyrights of his work. Allen attempted to sue when the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources continued to use his work without his permission (after an initial settlement of $15,000 and clarification of rights in 2013) (Jayanthi). North Carolina wanted to assert sovereign immunity in response (which would let the state avoid lawsuits when sued by an individual), but there was a law in place (the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act or CRCA) that prevented its use as defense against copyright claims (Jayanthi). This case resulted in the Supreme Court striking down the CRCA (since the legislation was centered around the due process violations of intentionality and recklessness of infringement), allowing the state to use sovereign immunity and avoid Allen’s lawsuit (Jayanthi). The Court dismissed Allen’s copyright infringement claim against the state of North Carolina, ruling that contracts need to be used between an individual and the state in order for the individual’s intellectual property to be protected from infringement by the state (Jayanthi).

Works Cited

Jayanthi, Shridhar, and Lyric Gupta. “Allen v. Cooper: Sovereign Immunity Allows North Carolina’s ‘Piracy’ Pirate Videos.” Harvard Journal of Law and Technology, 1 Apr. 2020, https://jolt.law.harvard.edu/digest/allen-v-cooper-sovereign-immunity-allows-north-carolinas-piracy-of-pirate-videos. 

Teska, Kirk. “The Top 10 Intellectual Property Cases of 2020.” New England In-House, 13 Jan. 2021, https://newenglandinhouse.com/2021/01/13/the-top-10-intellectual-property-cases-of-2020/.