Dear Doc:
I know that this question is a bit out of your bailiwick (you DO have a bailiwick, don’t you?) but given your legal background and knowledge of sailing, I hope that you may be able to help. Are pirates sailing against cartels that ship drugs into the United States? How is that possibly legal?
Signed,
Long John Gold (neé Silver)
Dear John:
The Doc has researched this question from stem to stern, and has now gotten to the bottom of this matter. The United States Constitution provides in Article 1, Section 8, Clause 11, that Congress shall have the power to, “to declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water”. In the 18th Century, Letters of Marque and Reprisal were granted by governments to authorize private persons to take action against enemy ships in time of war. They established a bounty-hunting system and some of history’s most infamous pirates were actually not outlaws, but were operating entirely legally under these instruments. By the time of the U.S. Civil War, privateering had been abolished by the United States’ declaration that it would abide by what became one of the the first multilateral treaties, the Paris Declaration Respecting Maritime Law.
Fast forward to 2025, and Senator Mike Lee (R-UT) and a couple of Republican members of the House have introduced the “Cartel Marque and Reprisal Authorization Act of 2025.” This bill, if passed by the Congress and signed by the President, would create a new group of pirates, “privately armed and equipped persons and entities” with the power to, “seize outside the geographic boundaries of the United States and its territories the person and property of any individual who the President determines is a member of a cartel, a member of a cartel-linked organization, or a conspirator associated with a cartel or a cartel-linked organization.” In effect, this bill would give a bass-boat militia carte blanche to attack anyone on land or sea that the President, in his sole discretion, thinks is part of a cartel or working with one.
The Doc does not know whether part of this arrangement requires the newly-minted pirates to fly the Jolly Roger, wear eye patches, or have parrots. So what does this have to do with intellectual property law? Absolutely nothing, except that Senator Lee serves on the Senate Committee on the Judiciary which has authority over patents, copyrights and trademarks. He sits on the Subcommittee on Intellectual Property. Senator Lee has not sponsored a single bill dealing with problems in our intellectual property system. He has sponsored bills to prevent citizens from enforcing the Clean Air Act, to prevent the Federal Communications Commission from enforcing regulations, and to withdraw the United States from NATO in the event that NATO votes to admit Ukraine (the Doc thinks that a cosponsor of that last one may be a guy named Putin!)
So are you a fan of pirates? Do you wait with bated breath for Talk Like a Pirate Day each September? Arrrrgh ye excited ta be on board an actual pirate ship? Well, before ye embarque, give a call to the attorneys at LW&H. They may have some advice for ye!
Until next month,
The “Doc”
— Lawrence A. Husick, Esq.