President Donald Trump fired the highest copyright official in the United States just days after he terminated the director of the Library of Congress.
Shira Perlmutter was in charge of the U.S. Copyright Office, which was supervised by the Library of Congress, until she was suddenly fired on Saturday.
The U.S. Copyright Office told Fox News Digital that Perlmutter received an email from the White House, saying: "You are the copyright and the registry of directors that are all copyrighted in the U.S., terminated immediately."
Trump fired Congress librarian Carla Hayden on Thursday, the first woman to become a Congressional librarian. The termination is part of the government's ongoing purge of government officials who are seen as opposing Trump and his agenda.
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Shira Perlmutter was fired by the Trump administration as a director of the copyright register and U.S. copyright. (AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib, File)
The White House did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment on the matter.
Hayden hired Perlmutter leadership in October 2020.
Like Perlmutter, Hayden was notified of her shooting in an email, according to the Associated Press.
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Congressional librarian Carla Hayden was fired by the Trump administration. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades)
Emails from the White House presidential office have been reportedly begun. "On behalf of President Donald J. Trump, I write to you that your position as a librarian of Congress has been terminated immediately. Thank you for your service."
Perlmutter's office recently released a report examining whether AI companies can use copyrighted materials to "train" their AI systems.
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Library of Congress Thomas Jefferson Building is located in SE, 1st Street, Washington, DC (Robert Alexander/Getty Image)
The report follows reviews that began in 2023, which include opinions from thousands of individuals including AI developers, actors and country singers.
The Copyright Office clarified its approach in January, which is based on the “centricity of human creativity” when creating works to ensure copyright protection. The Copyright Office receives approximately one million copyright applications each year, covering millions of creative works.
“Where it uses AI systems to express creativity, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to materials determined by expressive elements determined by machines…will undermine the constitutional goal of copyright.”
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Perlmutter, who has a law degree, was previously the Policy Director of the Patent and Trademark Office and worked in copyright and other fields of intellectual property rights.
She also worked in the Copyright Office in the late 1990s.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.