N.C. Faces New Federal Claims in Blackbeard Copyright Case! The infamous pirate Blackbeard was once the scourge of the Atlantic but over 300 years later a different kind of pirate sails North Carolina’s waters. And a case heard at the United States Supreme Court has returned to Raleigh. On February 8 th , 2023 filmmaker Frederick Allen of Nautilus Productions, filed an amended complaint in Allen v. Cooper against the state of North Carolina and the North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) over the misuse of Allen’s copyrighted footage of Blackbeard’s shipwreck, the Queen Anne’s Revenge . According to the complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of North Carolina, North Carolina pirated Allen’s footage of Blackbeard’s flagship, and then passed “ Blackbeard’s Law ” (N.C. §121-25(b)) in 2015 to justify that misuse. North Carolina has argued that Allen and other creators are barred from suing states and state enti...