Shira Perlmutter is suing President Trump over her abrupt firing as the head of the Copyright Office. Mariam Zuhaib / AP
Culture
The U.S. Copyright Office used to be fairly low-drama. Not anymore
June 6, 2025 5:00 AM ET Heard on Morning Edition
By Andrew Limbong, 3-Minute Listen
The U.S. Copyright Office is normally a quiet place. It mostly exists to register materials for copyright and advise members of Congress on copyright issues. Experts and insiders used words like “stable” and “sleepy” to describe the agency. Not anymore.
Shira Perlmutter, the abruptly fired ex-head of the Copyright Office, is suing President Trump, arguing her firing was unconstitutional and a violation of the separation of powers. This is going on just as the office has published its report on whether or not using copyrighted works to train generative AI counts as fair use, which is a legal idea allowing the use of some copyrighted materials without permission in certain circumstances. And it’s a report that could influence the dozens of lawsuits going on right now over copyright and AI usage.
