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US Register Of Copyrights Maria Pallante abruptly axed
By Chris Cooke | Published on Monday 24 October 2016
Maria Pallante has been somewhat abruptly axed from the position of Register Of Copyrights, the post that oversees the Copyright Office in the US. Pallante was seemingly sacked on Friday by Carla Hayden, the Librarian Of Congress, who oversees America’s Copyright Office, which in turn sits under the Library Of Congress for historic reasons.
Although the Register Of Copyrights doesn’t have much actual power over intellectual property policy, it is nevertheless an influential role, with Congress often looking to whoever is in that job for guidance on copyright issues.
Pallante has been given a new role within the Library Of Congress, as a senior adviser on digital strategy, but it’s not clear exactly what that means. Meanwhile the current Associate Register Of Copyrights, Karyn Temple Claggett, will take on Pallante’s former role on an interim basis.
According to Billboard, many lawyers and lobbyists in Washington have expressed surprise at Pallante’s sudden exit from the Register role, and are angry about the way the change in personnel was handled. Meanwhile others have expressed concern as to whom might be her successor, Pallante having generally been popular within the creator and copyright communities.
