In these cases the Court held that the Eleventh Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits Congress from using its Article I powers to abrogate states' sovereign immunity (a holding that later Supreme Court cases such as Central Virginia Community College v. Katz have qualified), and that the Patent Remedy Clarification Act did not have a sufficient basis to meet Fourteenth Amendment requirements.

Putting aside until later the case of state officials sued in their official capacities, an entity that successfully proves it is an arm of the state presumptively is entitled to absolute immunity from suit in federal court, irrespective of the nature of the cause of action pleaded against it.Further, cases for copyright violation by university radio stations were also dismissed as the radio, funded mostly by the university, was found to enjoy the same immunity.

[4] Here, the evidence is convincing and clear that WKMS is both financially and operationally dependent on the University and its Board of Regents, which, as we have already established, is considered the Commonwealth of Kentucky for purposes of Eleventh Amendment immunity.

See Philpot v. WUIS/University of Illinois Springfield, 2015 WL 5037551 (Aug. 25, 2015) (dismissing for lack of jurisdiction).The CRCA attempt was repeated by Congress with the Intellectual Property Protection Restoration Act of 2001.

[5] The North Carolina Legislature passed "Blackbeard's Law", N.C. General Statute §121-25(b),[6] which stated, "All photographs, video recordings, or other documentary materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents, relics, artifacts, or historic materials in the custody of any agency of North Carolina government or its subdivisions shall be a public record pursuant to Chapter 132 of the General Statutes."

The state government of North Carolina accordingly uploaded videos of the wreck of the Queen Anne's Revenge to its website.

Nautilus Productions, the company documenting the recovery since 1998, filed suit in federal court over copyright violations.

[19][20][21] Those briefs proposed various doctrines under which the CRCA could validly abrogate sovereign immunity and variously re-asserted and supported the reasons why Congress examined and enacted CRCA, claiming that Congress was fair in finding that states had abused immunity and that an alternative remedy was needed.

[32][33] In a press release Nautilus noted that, "North Carolina...and state entities can sue others for copyright infringement and damages.