“The repeal came after eight years of litigation and is apparently triggered by the State’s realization that it had no legitimate defense to at least one of the federal court claims: that Blackbeard’s Law was a constitutionally prohibited ‘Bill of Attainder’ — a bill that targets and harms an...
The plaintiff - Intersal, Inc. argues that, after it spend a decade locating the wreck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge (QAR), the parties entered into a contract (the 2013 Agreement) to govern the treatment of the digital media and other matters related to the QAR but that the North Carolina...
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 8th, 2023, filmmaker Frederick Allen of Nautilus...
Like most conflicts, matters between Intersal (the salvage and recovery company who discovered the Queen Anne's Revenge), Nautilus (the site's video crew), and the North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources didn't start with rivalry or sides. It started small and friendly, a group of...
The complaints specify that DNCR Deputy Secretary Kevin Cherry, as Secretary & Treasurer of the North Carolina Literary and Historical Association, solicited funds to be used for a commercial tour of QAR artifacts and the making of QAR artifact replicas, which DNCR planned without the...
In 2015, according to a complaint filed in federal court, North Carolina pirated footage of Blackbeard flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge. Then North Carolina passed "Blackbeard's Law" to justify that misuse. Rick Allen of Nautilus Productions is now taking his case to the Supreme Court of the...
Intersal contends in its lawsuit that the state breached a contract that gave Intersal some exclusivity to images, video and other renditions of the wreck and its artifacts. The suit also accuses the nonprofit Friends of Queen Anne’s Revenge organization of interfering in the contract. “Our case...
The conference took place on May 4, 2018 with the stated aim of resolving legal action brought against NC DNCR in 2015 by Intersal, for failure to implement a 2013 Settlement Agreement connected to the Queen Anne's Revenge - Blackbeard shipwreck. Despite requesting the mediation, NC DNCR failed...
A lawsuit that persists in federal court, a documentary filmmaker accuses North Carolina of committing a modern form of treasure looting: using his copyrighted underwater footage without permission. "Pirates come in many forms," attorneys for Fayetteville-based videographer Frederick Allen said...
In 2013, Allen found out that the state of North Carolina had allegedly been using his videos online without his consent. While the parties entered into a settlement agreement, requiring the State to compensate Allen for the use of the copyrighted material prior to the settlement date, Allen...
After the discovery of Blackbeard's commanding ship, the rescuers and the state came to a mutual understanding and agreement that allowed Intersal to create photos and videos of the wreckage which they could copyright. This was agreed by both parties in 1998. However, in 2015 a new law was...
Intersal, Inc., the Florida-based company which found the wreck of Blackbeard the Pirate's flagship Queen Anne's Revenge ("QAR") in 1996 at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, has filed complaints with the North Carolina Ethics Commission against two North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural...
A video producer who produced video of the excavation of a pirate ship is now suing the State of North Carolina and others for piracy. Nautilus Productions LLC, who served as a videographer for the Queen Anne’s Revenge shipwreck project, is charging copyright infringement and arguing against the...
Intersal, Inc., the Florida-based company which found the wreck of Blackbeard the Pirate's flagship Queen Anne's Revenge ("QAR") in 1996 at Beaufort Inlet, North Carolina, has filed complaints with the North Carolina Ethics Commission against two North Carolina Department of Natural and Cultural...
Fayetteville videographer accuses North Carolina of violating his copyright. Florida treasure hunter also suing for breach of contract. Florida treasure-hunting company Intersal Inc., which in 1996 found Blackbeard’s wrecked Queen Anne’s Revenge just off the North Carolina coast, is continuing...
Nearly 300 years ago, the infamous Pirate Blackbeard's flagship, the Queen Anne's Revenge (QAR), sank off the coast of North Carolina near Beaufort Inlet. A private salvage firm, Intersal, found a cluster of cannons and other artifacts in late 1996 on the seabed near the inlet. State...
The first of two lawsuits which include the State of North Carolina, Gov. Pat McCrory and other government officials, the N.C. Department of Natural and Cultural Resources and some of its employees was filed March 21, by Intersal Inc., a Florida-based maritime research and salvage company that...
NC Sued in Federal Court Over Blackbeard's Law
Modern day piracy on the Queen Anne's Revenge
The owner of Nautilus Productions, a Fayetteville photography company that began documenting the recovery of the wreck after it was discovered in the late 1990s, says the state misused his footage and...