AAU and APLU submitted reply comments to the United States Copyright Office, in response to the initial comments the Copyright Office received regarding its forthcoming study on the extent to which copyright owners are experiencing infringement by states without adequate remedies. The reply comments argue that substantial evidence of widespread, intentional copyright infringement is necessary to abrogate sovereign immunity, but the initial comments submitted to the Copyright Office do not provide such evidence. Nor is there evidence that public universities typically invoke sovereign immunity in bad faith or use the doctrine affirmatively as an excuse to infringe copyrights. The reply comments also assert that higher education is one of few sectors in society that undertakes rigorous systemic efforts to comply with copyright law and to educate its constituents about the benefits and obligations of copyright law.
AAU and APLU submitted initial comments to the Copyright Office on September 2 and, previously, filed an amicus brief in the related Supreme Court case, Allen v. Cooper.