Oversight of the U.S. Copyright Office - Senate Judiciary Committee
The Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee at an Oversight Hearing of the U.S. Copyright Office. Topics covered included the BLOCK BEARD Act and no-fault injunctions against foreign piracy sites, AI training transparency (including the TRAIN Act and CLEAR Act), the application of fair use to AI training, the impact of Cox v. Sony on DMCA secondary liability, the TRUMP American AI Act framework, VACRA, copyright protection for AI-generated outputs, and the intersection of copyright with right to repair. Register Perlmutter also addressed the Copyright Office's proposed fee schedule, its request for additional appropriations for modernization, the operation of the Copyright Claims Board (CCB) and proposed reforms, and the Office's institutional position within the legislative branch. Members participating in this hearing included Chairman Tillis (R-NC), Ranking Member Schiff (D-CA), and Sens. Blackburn (R-TN), Hirono (D-HI), Welch (D-VT), Coons (D-DE), and Padilla (D-CA).
A written summary of the hearing may be found HERE, and we are including a link to the video of the hearing below.