President Trump Fired Head of US Copyright Office

Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter was dismissed by the White House over the May 10, 2025 weekend. Federal law provides that the Register of Copyrights be appointed by and supervised by the Librarian of Congress, which is a position that requires presidential nomination and Senate confirmation. The previous Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, was fired on May 8th. Hayden was confirmed by the Senate in 2016 to serve a 10-year term. She appointed Perlmutter, who assumed her position in Oct. 2020.

Perlmutter and her office issued a report about artificial intelligence that included some questions and concerns about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology. For more information, please click here.