In my December 1998 column I reported on two then-recent cases concerning immunity of states to being sued in the federal courts under the Eleventh Amendment to our federal constitution, and its negative effect on copyright infringement claims against individual states, their subdivisions or agencies. The Supreme Court of the United States has now ruled on the subject. In two cases involving College Savings Bank, the Court, in 5-4 decisions, effectively determined that, in patent and trademark issues, individual states have such immunity from suit. The Court held that Congress did not have "the power to compel states to surrender their sovereign immunity for these purposes." Although the Court did not directly address copyright issues in these decisions, one would expect the narrow majority to employ a similar analysis and conclude that similar preclusion applies to copyright infringements. A dissenting opinion observed, in a footnote, that copyright might, under certain circumstances, be treated differently. However such a result would probably require a more liberal-leaning court, or legislation by Congress which passes muster with the Courts. Until then, there may be no effective remedy for money damages when a state infringes your copyright.