Trump administration fires top U.S. copyright official
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President Trump at the White House last week. Photo: Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg via Getty Images
The Trump administration fired the top U.S. copyright official, days after removing the Librarian of Congress who appointed her.
The big picture: Politico first reported that Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter's removal came soon after her office issued a report on artificial intelligence that raised concerns about using copyrighted works to train AI, an industry outgoing DOGE leader Elon Musk is involved in via his startup xAI.
- A U.S. Copyright Office spokesperson in an emailed statement on Monday confirmed that the White House emailed Perlmutter on Saturday afternoon saying, "your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately."
What they're saying: The American Federation of Musicians union said on Facebook Sunday that Perlmutter's firing "will gravely harm the entire copyright community."
Rep. Joe Morelle (D-N.Y.), the ranking member of the Committee on House Administration that oversees the Library of Congress and U.S. Copyright Office, said in a Saturday statement that firing Perlmutter "tramples on Congress's Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos."
- He added that it's "surely no coincidence" that Trump acted less than a day after Perlmutter "refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk's efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models."
Context: Musk last month responded to a call on X to "delete all IP [intellectual property] law" by saying: "I agree."
The other side: Conservative nonprofit the American Accountability Foundation told the Daily Mail last month that Perlmutter and the now-ousted Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden should be fired to "return an America First agenda to the nation's intellectual property regulation."
- Representatives for the White House didn't immediately respond to Axios' request for comment in the evening.
Go deeper: Trump fires Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden amid more worker purges
Editor's note: This story has been updated with a statement from the U.S. Copyright Office.
