Copyright chief fired by administration
WASHINGTON The Trump administration has fired the nation s top copyright official Shira Perlmutter days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress which oversees the U S Copyright Office The office reported in a report Sunday that Perlmutter received an email from the White House a day earlier with the notification that your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U S Copyright Office is terminated effective this instant On Thursday President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress as part of the administration s ongoing purge of executive leaders perceived to oppose the president and his agenda Hayden named Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October Perlmutter s office not long ago distributed a account examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to train their AI systems The document the third part of a lengthy AI investigation follows a review that began in with opinions from thousands of people including AI developers actors and country singers In January the office clarified its approach as one based on the centrality of human creativity in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections The office receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of creative works Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems it continues to enjoy protection Perlmutter declared 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 didn t return a message seeking comment Sunday Perlmutter who holds a law degree was previously a framework director at the Patent and Trademark Office and worked on copyright and other areas of intellectual property She also previously also worked at the Copyright Office in the late s She did not return messages left Sunday
