Back in the 1990s, videographer Frederick Allen documented the salvage of the pirate Blackbeard’s 280-year-old wrecked ship on the North Carolina coast. Earlier this decade, a department of the NC state government used some images and video of Allen’s without permission or payment — and, when Allen sued, the state legislature passed “Blackbeard’s Law” to exempt the state government. Allen’s consequent federal lawsuit has now made it to the Supreme Court, and reporter Eriq Gardner lays out the somewhat tricky legal issues involved. – The Hollywood Reporter