Morelle’s Statement on Abrupt Firing of Shira Perlmutter, Register of Copyrights

WASHINGTON – Rep. Joe Morelle (NY-25), the top Democrat on the Committee on House Administration, issued this statement after Register of Copyrights and Director of the U.S. Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, was fired earlier today by President Trump – days after he fired now-former Librarian of Congress, Dr. Carla Hayden:

“Donald Trump’s termination of Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis. It is surely no coincidence he acted less than a day after she refused to rubber-stamp Elon Musk’s efforts to mine troves of copyrighted works to train AI models.

“Register Perlmutter is a patriot, and her tenure has propelled the Copyright Office into the 21st century by comprehensively modernizing its operations and setting global standards on the intersection of AI and intellectual property.

“This action once again tramples on Congress’s Article One authority and throws a trillion-dollar industry into chaos. When will my Republican colleagues decide enough is enough?” 

Background:

Shira Perlmutter – a legislative branch employee – was appointed to her key leadership role in October 2020. As a leader in the legislative branch, Perlmutter advised Congress and executive branch agencies on copyright policy and directed the administration of important provisions of the U.S. Copyright Act. Yesterday, the Office issued a report opining on the use of copyrighted material to train generative AI models.

### 

The Committee on House Administration’s jurisdiction includes federal elections, House operations, Capitol Complex security, Smithsonian Institution, and Legislative Branch agencies such as the Library of Congress and Government Publishing Office.