by Dennis Crouch
In May 2025, President Trump terminated Copyright Register Shira Perlmutter from office, one day after she released a report concluding that in some situations AI training on copyrighted works scraped from the internet does not qualify as fair use. But, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal put her back in office pending resolution of the lawsuit. Most recently, the Trump Administration has asked the Supreme Court to vacate that injunction in Blanche v. Perlmutter, No. 25A478, arguing that Article II empowers the President to remove executive officers regardless of their organizational placement within the government. The crux of the dispute centers on the odd structure of the Copyright Office -- designated as part of the Library of Congress and under Congressional control rather than as an executive branch.
A new bill introduced by Rep. Morgan Griffith would restructure the Copyright Office entirely, severing it from the Library of Congress and reconstituting it as a standalone executive branch agency under direct presidential control. H.R. 6028. The Legislative Branch Agencies Clarification Act, represents one approach to resolving the separation of powers problems now before the Court.
I believe there is a better path forward: Consolidating the Copyright Office with the United States Patent and Trademark Office to create a unified United States Intellectual Property Office (USIPO).