On August 18, the U.S. Eastern District of North Carolina issued a reconsideration order in Allen v. Cooper that permits the Plaintiff copyright owner to amend its complaint and assert Takings Clause and constitutional claims for a state agency's use of his property. The case is on remand from the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled that Plaintiff Allen's copyright claims were barred by the 11th Amendment. As the District Court's intriguing opinion explained, a Supreme Court decision handed down changed the law from what it had been in 2017 when Plaintiff Allen's Takings Clause claims were dismissed. A Hollywood Reporter article published on August 19 helpfully summarizes the decision, which holds out promise for copyright owners to obtain some sort of relief when their copyrighted property is used without just compensation.
In response to the Supreme Court's decision in Allen v. Cooper I wrote a July 2020 Perspectives From FSF Scholars paper titled "Congress Should Stop States From Infringing Copyrights." The U.S. Copyright Office has been conducting a study of the issue of copyright infringements in the state and state sovereign immunity. The Office's report has been scheduled for an August 31, 2021 release date. Perhaps that release date will be pushed back in order for analysis of the District Court's reconsideration order in Allen v. Cooper. Regardless, the matter of copyrights and state sovereign immunity remains a topic that deserves attention by Congress.
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