The Copyright Clarification Act, 17 U.S.C. � 511, which purports to abrogate state sovereign immunity with respect to copyright infringement claims, was not enacted pursuant to a valid exercise of Congressional power and, therefore, does not bar an individual’s suit against a state, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 5th Circuit ruled Jan. 10 (Rodriguez v. Texas Commission on the Arts, 5th Cir., No. 98-10251, 1/10/00).
Abel Rodriguez sued the Texas Commission on the Arts in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas alleging that the commission infringed his copyrighted design for a license plate. The district court dismissed the complaint for lack of subject matter jurisdiction, holding that the Copyright Clarification Act did not abrogate the state’s Eleventh Amendment immunity from suit. Rodriguez appealed.
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