White House fires head of Copyright Office

The White House this past weekend fired the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, following the firing of the Librarian of Congress, whose office oversees the Copyright Office.  

A Copyright Office spokesperson confirmed Sunday that the head of the Copyright Office, Shira Perlmutter, received an email from the White House on Saturday, saying, “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately,” according to The Hill newspaper.

The Librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, was fired on Thursday.

President Obama nominated Hayden, who became the Librarian of Congress in 2016. She had a year and a half left in her 10-year term before her termination. Hayden chose Perlmutter to head the Copyright Office in October 2020, after she had been a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office.