#Shira Perlmutter

[archivlibrarianist]

"A day after the US Copyright Office dropped a bombshell pre-publication report challenging artificial intelligence firms' argument that all AI training should be considered fair use, the Trump administration fired the head of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter—sparking speculation that the controversial report hastened her removal.

"What the Copyright Office says about fair use

"[The report] comes after the Copyright Office parsed more than 10,000 comments debating whether creators should and could feasibly be compensated for the use of their works in AI training.

"'The stakes are high,' the office acknowledged, but ultimately, there must be an effective balance struck between the public interests in 'maintaining a thriving creative community' and 'allowing technological innovation to flourish.' Notably, the office concluded that the first and fourth factors of fair use—which assess the character of the use (and whether it is transformative) and how that use affects the market—are likely to hold the most weight in court.

"...To prevent both harms [harm to human copyright holders as well as developers of AI], the Copyright Office expects that some AI training will be deemed fair use, such as training viewed as transformative, because resulting models don't compete with creative works. Those uses threaten no market harm but rather solve a societal need, such as language models translating texts, moderating content, or correcting grammar. Or in the case of audio models, technology that helps producers clean up unwanted distortion might be fair use, where models that generate songs in the style of popular artists might not, the office opined.

"But while 'training a generative AI foundation model on a large and diverse dataset will often be transformative,' the office said that 'not every transformative use is a fair one,' especially if the AI model's function performs the same purpose as the copyrighted works they were trained on. Consider an example like chatbots regurgitating news articles, as is alleged in The New York Times' dispute with OpenAI over ChatGPT.

"'In such cases, unless the original work itself is being targeted for comment or parody, it is hard to see the use as transformative,' the Copyright Office said. One possible solution for AI firms hoping to preserve utility of their chatbots could be effective filters that 'prevent the generation of infringing content,' though."

So: the Copyright Office doesn't want AI to be trained on pirated works, and they got punished for such a statement.

[aitechtonicinfo]

Trump-Appointed Officials Barred from U.S. Copyright Office Amid Leadership Shake-Up, AI Policy Controversy

In a dramatic turn of events highlighting the intersection of politics, technology, and intellectual property law, two men claiming to be newly appointed officials under the Trump administration were reportedly denied entry into the U.S. Copyright Office this past week. The episode, filled with unanswered questions and raising serious legal and ethical concerns, unfolded just days after a…

[saywhat-politics]

What happened

Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) Tuesday joined Democrats in pushing back against President Donald Trump's effort to install his own leadership team at the Library of Congress, which is part of the legislative branch. Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden last week and Shira Perlmutter, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, over the weekend. But the Justice Department officials he named as their replacements have been rebuffed at the Library of Congress, with congressional support.

Who said what

Congress' quiet resistance to the president's "attempt to exert control" over "the legislative branch's premier research body" is a "rare bipartisan effort to defend its institutional authority" from Trump, The Washington Post said. On Monday, Trump named Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, a close ally and his former personal lawyer, as acting librarian of Congress, but lawmakers said Hayden's deputy, Robert Newlen, was still in charge for now.

Library of Congress employees on Monday turned away two Trump appointees seeking to take over the Copyright Office. "For the time being, the acting librarian is the acting librarian," Sen. Alex Padilla (Calif.), the top Rules Committee Democrat, said Tuesday, and Trump's people "seem to be respecting that."

[shrinkrants]

Musk’s turn from DOGE back to AI is revealing not just in providing evidence that his primary interest all along was not in “waste, fraud, and abuse” but in collecting government data about the American people. It is not likely a coincidence that the administration fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden last Thursday and Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter on Saturday. Both Hayden and Perlmutter have questioned the unauthorized use of copyrighted material to train AI. -- Heather Cox Richardson

[ssnakey-b]

45 fires director of U.S. Copyright Office after she questioned the us of copyrighted material by AI companies

I feel like people REALLY need to know this and this is particularly relevant to what I do on this blog. As the title says, 45 has just fired the director of U.S. Copyright Office, transparently for having the audacity to raise concerns about the way AI corporations "use" (read: steal) copyrighted material.

To be clear, she didn't even truly oppose it, she wasn't making a big statement. She questioned it. And that was enough to incur the wrath of Billy Bob Hitler.

So yeah, next time some asshole tells you artists need to focus about more important things than genAI (while also telling artists to stop talking about politics so much), remember this.

AI, or at least the plagiarism algorithms corporations are calling AI, is directly tied to fascism, even when it isn't being used to actively profile people or carpet-bomb civilians. AI is a tool that both powers and is powere dby Human misery.

[scrapeatyourownrisk]

Trump fires top US copyright official

The White House contacted Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter Saturday afternoon informing her that her job leading the U.S. Copyright Office had been “terminated,” according to internal Library of Congress communications obtained by POLITICO.

Source: Politico - May 10, 2025

[mariacallous]

Two men claiming to be newly appointed Trump administration officials tried to enter the US Copyright Office in Washington, DC, on Monday, but left before gaining access to the building, sources tell WIRED. Their appearance comes days after the White House fired the director of the copyright office, Shira Perlmutter, who had held the job since 2020. Perlmutter was removed from her post on Saturday, one day after the agency released a report that raised concerns about the legality in certain cases of using copyrighted materials to train artificial intelligence.

A source familiar with the matter tells WIRED that the two men who tried to enter the Copyright Office showed security at the building a document stating that they had been appointed by the White House to new roles within the office. The source identified the men as Brian Nieves, who claimed he was the new deputy librarian, and Paul Perkins, who said he was the new acting director of the Copyright Office, as well as acting register.

After this article was published, the Department of Justice confirmed to WIRED that Nieves and Perkins had been appointed to lead the Copyright Office. Both are both currently high-ranking officials at the DOJ. The Justice Department declined to comment about whether the two officials attempted to enter the Copyright Office on Monday. The White House did not respond to a request for comment.

Sources told WIRED that Capitol Police prevented the men from entering the copyright office, but a spokesperson for the law enforcement agency denied that officers escorted anyone out or denied them entry.

Got a Tip?Are you a current or former government employee who wants to talk about what's happening? We'd like to hear from you. Using a nonwork phone or computer, contact the reporter securely on Signal at Kateknibbs.09.

The US Copyright Office is a government agency within the Library of Congress that administers the nation's copyright laws, including processing applications to copyright creative works. Last week, the Trump administration fired the Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, who was the first woman and the first Black person to hold the position. The Librarian of Congress is responsible for appointing the Copyright Register, not the executive branch.

Some critics of Perlmutter's firing say this means that the White House does not have the power to remove the leader of the copyright office, either. “The president has as much legal power to fire the Register of Copyrights as I do, which is to say: none,” Meredith Rose, legal counsel for intellectual property nonprofit Public Knowledge, said in a statement.

The document the two men cited also stated that deputy attorney general Todd Blanche, who previously served as a personal defense lawyer for Trump, was now the acting Librarian of Congress. The Department of Justice announced Monday that Blanche would be replacing Hayden, who had been in the job for nearly a decade. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that Hayden’s firing stemmed from “quite concerning things she had done at the Library of Congress in pursuit of DEI.”

Prior to the Blanche's appointment, Hayden’s former deputy, Robert Newlen, had already been named acting Librarian of Congress. In an email sent to staff Monday viewed by WIRED, Newlen refuted that a personnel change had taken place. “Congress is engaged with the White House and we have not received direction from Congress about how to move forward,” he wrote. Newlen's signature listed him as “acting Librarian of Congress.”

The Trump Administration has not commented so far on why Perlmutter was fired. Some lawmakers have speculated that her ouster is connected to the report on copyright and AI that her office had released. “Donald Trump’s termination of the Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, is a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis,” Representative Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the committee that oversees the Library of Congress, said in a statement on Saturday. “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.”

The 108-page report was a “pre-publication” version, which means it wasn’t yet finalized. It is not customary for the US Copyright Office to release this type of document, according to copyright lawyer Aaron Moss. The report was highly anticipated in Silicon Valley, as a number of big tech companies are currently embroiled in dozens of court battles over the legality of their approach to training AI tools on copyrighted materials.

In most of these cases, the AI companies are arguing that fair use doctrine makes it legal for them to train on copyrighted materials without permission. The report holds that the fair use doctrine may indeed shield some use cases—but not necessarily all. “Making commercial use of vast troves of copyrighted works to produce expressive content that competes with them in existing markets, especially where this is accomplished through illegal access, goes beyond established fair use boundaries,” it reads.

The New York Times is suing OpenAI for copyright infringement for using its work to train tools like ChatGPT. Times spokesperson Charlie Stadtlander said in a statement that using copyrighted material to generate content that competes with original works “is not fair use.”

[allthegeopolitics]

President Donald Trump has fired Shira Perlmutter, who leads the U.S. Copyright Office. The firing was reported by CBS News and Politico, and seemingly confirmed by a statement from Representative Joe Morelle, the top Democrat on the Committee on House Administration.

Continue Reading.

[gwydionmisha]

Illegal take over of Library of Congress, Patents and Trademarks, and Consumer Protection Round Up, Published 5/15/25

They want to censor huge amounts of things. It's all illegal as it's literally the library of Congress, not of the Executive Branch. U.S. Congress needs it for things like research. It stores government documents, historical documents, etc., and not just ordinary books.

If you can't see why an autocrat wants to get rid of all this, may I suggest rereading 1984.

They fought back against the illegal mass firings:

The goal is to allow companies to avoid expensive recalls for dangerous products.

If you can't safely contact them in person, here are some other options for contacting your Congress Critters:

Five Calls to your critters: https://5calls.org/

Here is one that will send your reps a fax: https://resist.bot/

Snail Mail Campaigns: https://conuly.dreamwidth.org/3622760.html

[darkmaga-returns]

President Donald Trump has fired Shira Perlmutter from her role as the head of the U.S. Copyright Office “effective immediately.”

Perlmutter, a former Bill Clinton administration official, was appointed to the role by Carla Hayden.

Hayden, a Barack Obama appointee, was fired from her role as the Librarian of Congress last week.

The U.S. Copyright Office is overseen by the Library of Congress.

Perlmutter reportedly received an email from the White House on Saturday, stating:

“Your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.”

Trump fired Hayden on Thursday.

The termination was part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials who are perceived to be opposed to Trump and his agenda.

Hayden tapped Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.

[partisan-by-default]

The firing of Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter came after Perlmutter and her office earlier this week issued part three of a lengthy report about artificial intelligence and expressed some concerns and questions about the usage of copyrighted materials by AI technology.

"It is an open question, however, how much data an AI developer needs, and the marginal effect of more data on a model's capabilities," the report read. "Not everyone agrees that further increases in data and test performance will necessarily lead to continued real world improvements in utility."

CBS News has reached out to the White House for comment.

Perlmutter had held the position since October 2020, during the first Trump Administration. She was appointed to the post by now former Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, who herself was fired by President Trump on Thursday.

Democratic Rep. Joe Morelle of New York, ranking member of the Committee on House Administration, said in a statement that Perlmutter's firing was "a brazen, unprecedented power grab with no legal basis."

Morelle speculated that there was "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," in reference to the report released by the Copyright Office this week.  

[dertaglichedan]

President Donald Trump has appointed Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche as the acting Librarian of Congress, following the dismissal of Carla Hayden on May 8. Blanche, who previously served as Trump's defense attorney during his 2024 criminal trial where Trump was convicted on 34 felony counts, will temporarily lead the institution.

Hayden's termination last week has sparked controversy, with critics arguing that her efforts to promote diversity, equity, and inclusion were the reason for her ousting. She was the first Black woman and first woman to hold the position, having been appointed by former President Barack Obama in 2015.

Blanche's appointment adds to a trend within Trump's second term administration of officials holding multiple roles. Alongside Blanche, Brian Nieves was named acting assistant librarian, and Paul Perkins was appointed acting register of copyrights, replacing Shira Perlmutter at the Copyright Office. This move has raised concerns among Democrats about the independence of the legislative branch, given the Library of Congress's role in supporting Congressional research.

[saywhat-politics]

The two men appeared at the US Copyright Office days after the Trump administration fired its leader, who had just published a report about the use of copyrighted materials for AI training.

TWO MEN CLAIMING to be newly appointed Trump administration officials tried to enter the US Copyright Office in Washington, DC, on Monday, but left before gaining access to the building, sources tell WIRED. Their appearance comes days after the White House fired the director of the copyright office, Shira Perlmutter, who had held the job since 2020. Perlmutter was removed from her post on Saturday, one day after the agency released a report that raised concerns about the legality in certain cases of using copyrighted materials to train artificial intelligence.

A source familiar with the matter tells WIRED that the two men who tried to enter the Copyright Office showed security at the building a document stating that they had been appointed by the White House to new roles within the office. The source identified the men as Brian Nieves, who claimed he was the new deputy librarian, and Paul Perkins, who said he was the new acting director of the Copyright Office, as well as acting register.

[republicanidiots]

..."The supplement to the 2026 budget here outlines the administration’s next plans for the IMLS. Their request is for $6,000,000 to “conduct an orderly closeout of the IMLS beginning in 2026. See page 1105 in the .pdf, which is page 1066 of the document itself. "...

..."And none of this addresses what’s been going on at the Library of Congress, where Trump fired both Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden and the Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter."...

[the-hwaelweg]

I'm actually going to have a rage stroke.