Trump Administration Dismisses Lead Copyright Official Shortly After Librarian of Congress Termination
Unleashing the Great Unraveling: The Trump Administration's Purge and the Sacking of Shira Perlmutter
Washington D.C. (AP) - In a move that's driving shockwaves through the creative community, the Trump administration has ousted Shira Perlmutter, the nation's top copyright official, just days after canning the Library of Congress' boss, Carla Hayden.
The axe fell on Perlmutter following a communique from the White House on Saturday, her position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office terminated immediately.
On Thursday, President Trump pulled the plug on Hayden, history's first female and first African American librarian of Congress. This purge is part of the administration's ongoing vendetta against officials suspected of opposing The Donald.
Hayden appointed Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.
Perlmutter's office, in a report, scrutinized AI companies' privilege to use copyrighted materials to 'train' their AI models and then elbow their way into the market. This examination was the third part of an extensive AI study , involving opinions from myriad voices, from AI developers to country singers.
In January, her office clarified its approach, centering on the "centrality of human creativity" as a precursor for copyright protections. The office handles around half a million copyright applications a year, covering countless creative wonders.
"Where that creativity is expressed through AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection," Perlmutter asserted in January. "Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine ... would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright."
The White House declined to comment on Sunday.
The Democratic party swiftly condemned Perlmutter's dismissal.
"Donald Trump's termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a ruthless, unprecedented power grab with no legal justification," charged Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, the top Democrat on the House Administration Committee.
Perlmutter, with a law degree under her belt, previously worked as a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and dabbled in copyright and other areas of intellectual property. She had served at the Copyright Office in the late 1990s before. She failed to respond to messages sent on Sunday.
Sources: 1 - www.nytimes.com2 - www.washingtonpost.com3 - www.cnet.com
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Associated Press writer Sophia Tareen contributed to this report from Chicago.
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- Seattle-based news outlets have expressed their opinion that the removal of Shira Perlmutter, the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office, could mark a significant shift in policy-and-legislation surrounding AI and copyright, given her work on the AI study and commitment to preserving human creativity as a prerequisite for copyright protections.
- Following Perlmutter's dismissal by the Trump administration, many have raised concerns about the government's role in shaping business practices, especially considering Perlmutter's background in intellectual property and her history of working with policy-and-legislation.
- The recent sacking of Shira Perlmutter and Carla Hayden from their respective posts in the Trump administration's purge has sparked general-news discussions about the role of politics in government appointments, as these dismissals are perceived as part of an ongoing vendetta against officials suspected of opposing president Trump.
