MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court is wrestling with a modern-day dispute involving the pirate Blackbeard's ship that went down off North Carolina's coast more than 300 years ago.
The justices on Tuesday heard arguments in a copyright case over photos and videos that document the recovery of the Queen Anne's Revenge, discovered in 1996.
The company that took the images holds the copyrights to them and says the state should pay for using them. North Carolina says a federal law that seems to allow for copyright infringement lawsuits against states is unconstitutional.
It was unclear what the justices would decide.
Among artifacts that have been brought to the surface are cannons and the anchor, but roughly 40 percent of the Queen Anne's Revenge remains
