Time to Merge the Copyright Office with the USPTO

"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. Most recently, the Trump Administration has asked the Supreme Court to vacate that injunction in Blanche v. Perlmutter, No. 25A478,"

"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."

In May 2025, President Trump terminated Copyright Register Shira Perlmutter one day after a report concluded that AI training on copyrighted works scraped from the internet sometimes does not qualify as fair use. The D.C. Circuit reinstated Perlmutter pending litigation, and the Administration asked the Supreme Court to vacate that injunction, invoking Article II removal power. The core conflict arises from the Copyright Office’s unusual placement within the Library of Congress and under Congressional control rather than the executive branch. H.R. 6028 would sever the Office from the Library and convert it to an executive agency. An alternative proposal is to merge the Copyright Office with the USPTO to form a unified United States Intellectual Property Office, which would place all major IP functions under consistent executive oversight, streamline administration, and address the separation-of-powers concern while preserving specialized IP expertise.

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