3 Count: The Skin is a Lie

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1: US Supreme Court Won’t Let Trump Remove Top Copyright Official for Now

First off today, John Kruzel at Reuters reports that the US Supreme Court has ruled that the Register of Copyrights, Shira Perlmutter, can hold onto her job, at least for the time being.

President Trump notified Perlmutter of her firing in May 2025. As the head of the Copyright Office, Perlmutter both oversees the office’s day-to-day operations and advises Congress on copyright issues. Perlmutter sued, arguing that the Copyright Office is part of the Library of Congress, which is under the control of Congress. That lawsuit is ongoing, though a judge did allow Perlmutter to keep her job until the case is resolved. 

A recent Supreme Court decision did grant the President the right to fire heads of certain independent agencies. However, that was not applied to the Copyright Office. Further, the Supreme Court declined to hear the Perlmutter case, sending it back to the lower courts for further consideration. The Supreme Court was clear that its decision was not a ruling on the merits of the case.

2: Why Beyoncé’s Parkwood Company Won the Copyright Lawsuit Dismissal

Next up today, Caché McClay at USA Today reports that Beyoncé Knowles-Carter’s company, Parkwood Entertainment, has won the dismissal of a copyright infringement lawsuit filed against the company over allegations of using an unlicensed sample.

As part of her 2022 track “ Alien Superstar,” Beyoncé used a sample from the John Holiday song “ Moonraker.” According to Parkwood, the sample had been licensed from Holiday directly. However, Hirose Enterprises LLC claimed to own the song and said the use was infringing.

However, Hirose’s arguments had one significant flaw. The company had formed a week after the lawsuit was filed. As such, the judge dismissed the case, ruling that the sample was properly cleared.

3: Dbrand Removes Steam Machine Companion Cube From Sale Due to Copyright Infringement

Finally today, Kosta Andreadis at TweakTown reports that the technology skin maker Dbrand has removed a “Companion Cube” skin from its website because it failed to clear the rights with Valve.

Valve recently announced a new line of Steam Machines, computers designed to bring a console-like experience to PC gaming. Dbrand followed that announcement with a new skin that mimics the look of the Companion Cube from Valve’s Portal series.

The skin quickly became a viral sensation and one of the best-selling skins in the company’s history. However, the company quickly took down the product and issued refunds, saying that they had failed to clear the rights to the skin before offering it for sale.

The 3 Count Logo was created by Justin Goff and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License.