The Trump administration has fired Shira Perlmutter, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, just days after dismissing Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress. Perlmutter’s work focused on copyright in the context of artificial intelligence, while both firings are considered part of a broader purge of officials deemed unsupportive of Trump’s agenda. Critics have openly condemned these actions, with Democrats expressing outrage.
In a swift move that has drawn considerable attention, the Trump administration fired Shira Perlmutter, the top U.S. copyright official, just days after dismissing the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden. Perlmutter was in charge of the Copyright Office, an entity under the Library of Congress, until she received a rather blunt termination email from the White House on a Saturday. Her abrupt exit marks another chapter in the administration’s ongoing reshuffle of government officials viewed as unsupportive of Trump’s policies.
Released to Fox News Digital, the email notified Perlmutter that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.” This dismissal came after the administration’s earlier decision to fire Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to hold the Librarian of Congress title, a move that many Democrats swiftly condemned as a disgraceful act against a trailblazer in the field.
Neither the White House nor the administration has responded to the requests for comments about the firings. Meanwhile, it’s worth noting that Hayden was actually the one who recruited Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office back in October 2020. In a similar vein, Hayden was also informed about her firing through an email from the Presidential Personnel Office, which opened with, “On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I am writing to inform you that your position as the Librarian of Congress is terminated effective immediately. Thank you for your service.”
Perlmutter’s recent work included a significant report that investigated how artificial intelligence companies can utilize copyrighted materials for training their systems—a pretty hot topic these days. This report was part of a broader review process that had begun earlier in 2023 and included insights from a diverse group ranging from AI developers to celebrities like actors and country singers.
Earlier this year, Perlmutter had emphasized, “the centrality of human creativity” in the context of copyright protections. The Copyright Office handles around half a million applications annually, which cover a vast array of creative works. In January, she articulated her stance on AI, asserting that extending copyright protections to works generated by machines would inadvertently undermine the core goals established for copyright law.
With her law degree in hand, Perlmutter has a rich background, including serving as a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and her longstanding involvement with copyright issues dating back to the late 1990s at the Copyright Office. The ripples of these recent firings will likely continue to be felt as the dust settles in Washington.
Original Source: www.foxnews.com
