US Copyright Office director sues Trump administration over firing

By Blake Brittain

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -The U.S. Copyright Office director fired by the Trump administration sued President Donald Trump and other government officials on Thursday, arguing her firing was unconstitutional and should not be allowed to take effect.

Shira Perlmutter said in the lawsuit that her termination by email on May 10 was "blatantly unlawful," and that only the U.S. Congress can remove her from office.

The lawsuit, filed in Washington, D.C., federal district court, is the latest in a series of legal clashes between Trump and federal officials he has sought to fire since his inauguration in January.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the complaint. A spokesperson for the Copyright Office and an attorney for Perlmutter declined to comment.

On Thursday, the Supreme Court allowed Trump's firing of two Democratic members of federal labor boards to remain in effect while their legal challenges proceed in a dispute that tests the president's power over independent government agencies.

The Copyright Office, a department of the Library of Congress, confirmed on May 12 that the administration had fired Perlmutter by email on May 10. Perlmutter's firing sparked a backlash from Democratic politicians, who said that Congress had "purposely insulated" the Copyright Office from politics.

The lawsuit said that Perlmutter's firing came a day after the office released a report on the high-stakes intersection of artificial intelligence and copyright law. The office said in the report that technology companies' use of copyrighted works to train AI may not always be protected under U.S. law.

Tech companies including OpenAI and Meta Platforms have told the office that being forced to pay copyright holders for their content could cripple the burgeoning U.S. AI industry.

Perlmutter asked the court to block the Trump appointees from taking the acting positions and declare that she remains the Copyright Office's director.

(Reporting by Blake Brittain in Washington; Editing by Leigh Jones and Leslie Adler)

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