3 Count: Copyright Office Chaos

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1: Fired Copyright Office Head Sues Trump Administration Over Removal

First off today, Andrew Limbong at NPR reports that Shira Perlmutter, the recently fired head of the United States Copyright Office (USCO), has filed a lawsuit claiming that her termination was “unlawful” and seeking an injunction to prevent her dismissal.

Perlmutter was appointed to the position in 2020 by then-Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. However, President Trump dismissed both Hayden and Permutter back-to-back, appointing temporary replacements for both. However, Perlmutter argues that the President lacks the authority to do either of those things.

The USCO is part of the Library of Congress, and Perlmutter argues that it is under the control of Congress, not the President. As such, she claims that President Trump has no authority to remove either person; she is seeking an injunction to restore her to the position of Register of Copyrights, as well as to bar the acting Librarian of Congress from exercising the power to dismiss her.

2: Popular Piracy Site AnimeHeaven Loses All Episodes Following Crunchyroll’s DMCA Notice

Next up today, Shivam Gulati at GameRant reports that the anime streaming service Crunchyroll has taken action against the pirate website AnimeHaven, issuing a massive copyright notice that removes thousands of episodes from the site.

The notice didn’t target AnimeHaven directly. Instead, it targeted the video server that the site uses. This resulted in removal from AnimeHaven as well as any other site that uses that service.

This is the latest in a line of copyright notices targeting anime and manga piracy sites. A similar notice was issued last week, targeting MangaDex, which lost over 700 titles.

3: Beastie Boys Reach Settlement with Chili’s over ‘Unauthorized’ Ad Use of ‘Sabotage’

Finally, today, Marina Watts and Rachel DeSantis at People report that The Beastie Boys and Universal Music Group (UMG) have reached a settlement with the parent company of Chili’s over the restaurant’s alleged use of Sabotage in an online ad.

The commercial debuted in 2022 and, in addition to the music, featured a parody of the music video. They filed the lawsuit in July 2024, alleging infringement of copyright. However, UMG and the band have filed to dismiss the case, citing an agreement in principle to settle the case.

The Beastie Boys have been very aggressive in protecting their work against use in commercials. This includes a $1.7 million victory over Monster Energy Drink, which used a different song in a commercial.

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