In his most recent “Takings Talk” column for Daily Journal, Manatt Appellate Senior Counsel Michael Berger examined a decision by the Fifth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals addressing copyright infringement by state government entities.
In the article, Berger explained how Canada Hockey, LLC v. Texas A & M University, a case in which the copyright owner claimed that the University violated his due process rights and took his property without compensation, presented the U.S. Supreme Court with “another chance to examine governmental theft of intellectual property.” Congress had become concerned about copyright infringement by state government entities and passed a statute by passing the Eleventh Amendment to allow suing a state entity in federal court. The Fifth Circuit invalidated the statute, in part on the ground that the suit could be brought in state court. That violates recent Supreme Court efforts to simplify the ripeness rules for takings cases. “The Fifth Circuit’s holding that there was no federal jurisdiction because of a theoretically available state court takings suit simply thumbed its nose at the rationality that the Supreme Court sought to bring to this confused body of law.”
Daily Journal subscribers can read the full article here.