11/13 – Photographer Rick Allen’s long-running lawsuit against North Carolina centers on whether a state can use copyrighted images without permission or compensation — and whether sovereign immunity shields it from liability. Allen, who documented the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck under a limited-use agreement, alleges North Carolina repeatedly exceeded that license by posting his photos and footage online and incorporating them into a museum film. After Allen pushed back, the state enacted “Blackbeard’s Law,” which declared all shipwreck-related media public records, effectively stripping creators of copyright protection. Although the legislature repealed the law in 2023, Allen argues the state continued infringing and is now challenging sovereign immunity by invoking constitutional claims: that uncompensated use of his work is an unlawful taking under the Fifth Amendment and violates due-process rights.

The case could set a significant precedent for how far states can go in using copyrighted works and what remedies creators have when governments overstep.