CNN/AP: "Appeals court opens Titanic wreckage to tourists"

We've discussed the issue of limitations to view and photograph the Titanic wreckage that RMS Titanic, Inc. purported to impose. An Associated Press story on CNN's web site today reported that the Fourth Circuit has reversed a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge J. Calvitt Clarke Jr. that RMSTI had such rights (I hadn't been aware that there had been such a ruling -- I thought it had just been RMSTI bluster).

Judge Paul Niemeyer, writing for the unanimous panel, wrote that "a property right does not normally include the right to exclude viewing and photographing of the property when it is located in a public place."

The CNN/AP news story is, for now, at
<http://cnn.com/TRAVEL/NEWS/9903/25/titanic.dives.ap/>. (My understanding
is that CNN's arrangement with AP only permits them to retain the stories for a limited time, and that they can't be archived, so this URL may be dead in two or three weeks.) The Washinton Post also has a story on it at
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/WPlate/1999-03/25/168l-032599-idx.html>.

I don't have any access to the opinion itself, but presumably it will soon show up at <http://www.law.emory.edu/4circuit/mar99/index.html> and/or
<http://caselaw.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=4th&navby=year&year=1999-3>.

-- 
Terry Carroll       | "Report of the Committee On Governmental Affairs,
Santa Clara, CA     | United States Senate, To Accompany S. 1364, An Act To
carroll[_at_]tjc.com     | Eliminate Unnecessary and Wasteful Federal Reports."
Modell delendus est |  - Title of U.S. Senate Report 105-187, May 11, 1998