A recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court opens the door for state’s to legally infringe copyrighted work. This includes music, video, art — all works that fall under copyright protection. The SCOTUS reasoned that there is insufficient evidence that states are intentionally infringing for Congress. As a result, Congress is precluded from using its Article 1 powers, including its authority over copyrights, from taking away a state’s immunity from an infringement lawsuit. The underlying case involved the State of North Carolina using a videographers work of a shipwreck in several online videos as well as his photo in an article. One obvious concern is that government officials will use copyrighted music as part of official government business but with the ulterior motive of associating themselves with the artist and song.
