Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/19pdf/18-877_dc8f.pdf
Page Number: 17.0

14 

ALLEN v. COOPER 

Opinion of the Court 

stronger evidence of infringement, especially of the uncon-
stitutional kind.  Allen points to a significant disparity in 
how  Congress  created  a  record  for  the  two  statutes.    See 
Brief  for  Petitioners  7–10,  47–50.
  Before  enacting  the
CRCA,  Congress  asked  the  then-Register  of  Copyrights, 
Ralph  Oman,  to  submit  a  report  about  the  effects  of  the 
Eleventh  Amendment  on  copyright  enforcement.    Oman 
and his staff conducted a year-long examination, which in-
cluded a request for public comments eliciting letters from 
about 40 copyright holders and industry groups.  The final 
158-page report concluded that “copyright proprietors have 
demonstrated they will suffer immediate harm if they are
unable to sue infringing states in federal court.”  Copyright 
Office,  Copyright  Liability  of  States  and  the  Eleventh
Amendment  103  (1988)  (Oman  Report).    Is  that  report 
enough, as Allen claims, to flip Florida Prepaid’s outcome 
when it comes to copyright cases against the States?

It is not.  Behind the headline-grabbing conclusion, noth-
ing in the Oman Report, or the rest of the legislative record,
cures the problems we identified in Florida Prepaid.  As an 
initial  matter,  the  concrete  evidence  of  States  infringing
copyrights  (even  ignoring  whether  those  acts  violate  due 
process) is scarcely more impressive than what the Florida 
Prepaid  Court  saw.    Despite  undertaking  an  exhaustive 
search, Oman came up with only a dozen possible examples
of state infringement.  He listed seven court cases brought
against States (with another two dismissed on the merits)
and  five  anecdotes  taken  from  public  comments  (but  not 
further corroborated).  See Oman Report, at 7–9, 90–97.  In 
testifying about the report, Oman acknowledged that state 
infringement  is  “not  widespread”  and  “the  States  are  not 
going to get involved in wholesale violation of the copyright 
laws.”  Hearings on H. R. 1131 before the Subcommittee on 
Courts,  Intellectual  Property,  and  the  Administration  of 
Justice, 101st Cong., 1st Sess., 53 (1989) (House Hearings).
Indeed, he opined: “They are all respectful of the copyright