News & Analysis as of

Sovereign Immunity Copyright Ownership

Proskauer - Minding Your Business

State Infringement of Copyright Cannot Proceed in Federal Court, Fifth Circuit Says

When there is a right, there is a remedy—or so the maxim goes. But when a state infringes upon your copyright, such a remedy may be more difficult to obtain. Just a year ago, the Supreme Court held in Allen v. Cooper that the...more

Bricker Graydon LLP

Copyrights and state sovereignty: U.S. Supreme Court removes monetary damages for state actor infringement

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On March 23, 2020, a unanimous, if slightly fractured, Supreme Court ruled in Allen v. Cooper, 140 S. Ct. 994 (2020), that Congress did not properly abrogate sovereign immunity when it enacted the Copyright Remedy...more

Sunstein LLP

Supreme Court Allows States to Plunder Copyrighted Videos

Sunstein LLP on

In a remarkable decision, Allen v. North Carolina, the Supreme Court held on March 23 that the state of North Carolina can lawfully plunder a videographer’s copyrighted videos and photographs of the recovery of Blackbeard’s...more

ArentFox Schiff

Sovereign Immunity Prevails: Litigants Cannot Sue States for Copyright Infringement, Supreme Court Holds

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The Supreme Court has stricken a federal statute that abrogated a State’s immunity from copyright infringement lawsuits. The Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (CRCA) provided that States “shall not be immune, under...more

McDermott Will & Emery

SCOTUS Sinks the CRCA, Confirms States Are Immune from Copyright Suits

A unanimous decision from the Supreme Court of the United States in Allen v. Cooper affirmed a previous ruling by the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit and held that states cannot be sued for copyright infringement,...more

Fish & Richardson

Supreme Court Rules States “Arrrrgh” Immune from Copyright Infringement Suits

Fish & Richardson on

The Supreme Court ruled on Monday in Allen v. Cooper, No. 18-877, that state governments are immune from copyright infringement claims in spite of Congress’s Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990. The Court’s decision...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

The Final Revenge of Queen Anne’s Revenge: State’s Use of Photographs Is Not Piracy

On March 23, 2020, in Allen v. Cooper, the Supreme Court held that Allen, who spent over two decades, photographing the shipwreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge, better known as the flagship for the pirate Blackbeard, cannot sue the...more

Foley Hoag LLP - Making Your Mark

Supreme Court Says State Sovereign Immunity Sinks Pirate Shipwreck Copyright Suit

Edward Teach, more popularly known as Blackbeard, roamed the seven seas and terrorized merchant vessels off the U.S. and Caribbean coasts during the colonial period. He ultimately met his demise when the colony of Virginia...more

Akerman LLP

IP: The Final Revenge of Queen Anne’s Revenge: State’s Use of Photographs Is Not Piracy

Akerman LLP on

On March 23, 2020, in Allen v. Cooper, the Supreme Court held that Allen, who spent over two decades, photographing the shipwreck of Queen Anne’s Revenge, better known as the flagship for the pirate Blackbeard, cannot sue the...more

Robins Kaplan LLP

Supreme Court Holds that States are Immune from Copyright Infringement

Robins Kaplan LLP on

On March 23, the U.S. Supreme Court held that a state cannot be sued for copyright infringement because Congress lacked authority to abrogate the states’ immunity from copyright infringement suits when it enacted the...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Shiver Me Timbers: Can the States Now Legitimately Hornswoggle Copyright Owners?

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

In a case where the subject matter (copyrights relating to footage of a salvaged pirate ship) is arguably more intriguing than the question presented, the Supreme Court held that a section of the Copyright Act allowing...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Supreme Court Upholds State Sovereign Immunity in Copyright Case in Allen v. Cooper (2020)

The Supreme Court on Monday affirmed the Fourth Circuit’s decision upholding State sovereign immunity against claims of copyright infringement.[i] The case arose over Petitioner Allen’s suit against North Carolina’s...more

Jackson Walker

U.S. Supreme Court Allows States to be “Digital Blackbeards” – For Now

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Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard, was an 18th century English pirate who roamed Caribbean and Atlantic coastal waters. In June 1718, Blackbeard’s 200-ton flagship, Queen Anne’s Revenge, ran aground off of the Bar of...more

McDonnell Boehnen Hulbert & Berghoff LLP

Allen v. Cooper (2020)

On March 23, 2020, in a decision containing not a small amount of whimsy (more regarding that aspect anon), Justice Kagan, joined almost unanimously by her brethren, upheld a State's ( North Carolina) sovereign immunity...more

BakerHostetler

U.S. Supreme Court Rules That Sovereign Immunity Shields States From Copyright Suits

BakerHostetler on

On March 23, the U.S. Supreme Court issued its first of three anticipated copyright decisions for this term – Allen v. Cooper – in which the Court unanimously held that states are shielded from copyright suits by sovereign...more

K&L Gates LLP

U.S. Supreme Court Holds Copyright Remedy Classification Act of 1990 Does Not Abrogate State Sovereign Immunity for Copyright...

K&L Gates LLP on

On March 23, 2020, the Supreme Court of the United States held that the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (“CRCA”) does not abrogate the states’ sovereign immunity from copyright infringement suits....more

Proskauer - New Media & Technology

Supreme Court Rules That States Cannot be Sued for Copyright Infringement, For Now…

The U.S. Supreme Court’s busy intellectual property term (with six copyright and trademark cases) rolls on. On March 23, SCOTUS ruled in Allen v. Cooper, 589 U.S. ___, No. 18-877 (Mar. 23, 2020), that states, absent consent,...more

Ballard Spahr LLP

Think Twice When Licensing Copyrighted Works to States – Sovereign Immunity Applies

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The Supreme Court held in Allen v. Cooper that legislation enacted by Congress revoking the sovereign immunity of states for acts of copyright infringement is unconstitutional. The Supreme Court reasoned that Article 1 of the...more

Cole Schotz

A New Age Of Digital Piracy

Cole Schotz on

On Monday the United States Supreme Court addressed a case of piracy about pirates. In a unanimous decision in Allen v. Cooper, the Supreme Court ruled that states have sovereign immunity against copyright infringement...more

Akerman LLP - Marks, Works & Secrets

Queen Anne’s Revenge?

In June 2019, the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari in Allen v. Cooper, No. 18-877.  The case presents a question “whether Congress validly abrogated state sovereign immunity via the Copyright Remedy...more

Weintraub Tobin

Supreme Court Ruling In Pirate Ship Copyright Case Could Sink State Immunity

Weintraub Tobin on

The Supreme Court is set to hear the case of Allen v. Cooper which addresses the constitutionality of the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act (“CRCA”). The purpose of the CRCA is to abrogate sovereign immunity enjoyed by...more

McDermott Will & Emery

Supreme Court to Consider Abrogation of Sovereign Immunity Under Copyright Law

McDermott Will & Emery on

The Supreme Court of the United States granted certiorari in a sovereign immunity copyright case to consider the abrogation issue in the context of copyright law. Allen v. Cooper, Case No. 18-877 (S. Ct. June 5, 2019). ...more

Dorsey & Whitney LLP

Ahoy, matey! The Supreme Court to Decide Whether Copyright Owners Can Make States Walk the Plank for Infringement

Dorsey & Whitney LLP on

On June 3, 2019, the Supreme Court agreed to decide whether Congress validly abrogated State sovereign immunity for copyright infringement claims by passing the Copyright Remedy Clarification Act of 1990 (“CRCA”), 17 U.S.C. §...more

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