Blackbeard Filmmaker Fires Retort in Shipwreck Copyright Dispute! Rarely is state piracy as blatant as in the case of Blackbeard’s Law—a North Carolina statute that targeted videographer Rick Allen’s unique footage of Blackbeard’s flagship, the Queen Anne’s Revenge . The statute—admittedly aimed at Allen’s work—claimed that the state could freely use, copy, and distribute Allen’s artistic work without compensating him. After being sued, North Carolina amended its statute, but continued its piratical claims and its use of Allen’s work. It then tried to get Allen’s lawsuit kicked out of court. That attempt failed last August, when U.S. District Judge Terrence W. Boyle determined Allen’s federal lawsuit against the state could proceed. He did so, in large part, by applying a legal principle the state previously conceded was correct. Still trying to delay the inevitable, the state appealed the ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 4 th Circuit. Now, Allen has responded. In A...