Allen has been in court with North Carolina for years after the state took his footage of an 18th century ship led by the notorious pirate Blackbeard. First, officials in the state’s culture agency posted images of a salvage operation on its website. Later, came video. And then eventually, after the dispute had slipped into court, state lawmakers passed a statute treating all photographs, video recordings and other documentary materials of a derelict vessel or shipwreck or its contents as “public record.” https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/filmmaker-north-carolina-stealing-footage-1234999880/

Wow! Good luck!