Shira Perlmutter

Shira Perlmutter (born 1956) is an American attorney and law professor who has served as the 14th <a href="/facts/Register_of_Copyrights/4AV980mJ">register of copyrights</a> of the <a href="/facts/United_States_Copyright_Office/z7VU59Qf">United States Copyright Office</a> in the <a href="/facts/Library_of_Congress/TfB6dEN5">Library of Congress</a>, since 2020. Before her appointment as register in 2020, Perlmutter led copyright and global law policy at the <a href="/facts/United_States_Patent_and_Trademark_Office/97KdJB6h">United States Patent and Trademark Office</a>. In 1995, she was appointed to be the first associate register for policy and international affairs at the Copyright Office and was the copyright consultant for the <a href="/facts/Presidency_of_Bill_Clinton/jcvLTFKP">Clinton administration</a>'s advisory council on the <a href="/facts/National_Information_Infrastructure/0KLE47Hh">National Information Infrastructure</a> from 1994–5.
In the <a href="/facts/Private_sector/fQudW9hp">private sector,</a> Perlmutter was the <a href="/facts/Vice_president/Vw7SgL7T">executive vice president</a> of policy and international affairs at the <a href="/facts/International_Federation_of_the_Phonographic_Industry/h3f3zMVv">International Federation of the Phonographic Industry</a>, a <a href="/facts/Music_industry/8qnJau3F">music industry</a> association representing <a href="/facts/Recording_studio/zlGNwv0g">recording studios</a>. Prior to that, she was associate <a href="/facts/General_counsel/VNUW0PCG">general counsel</a> and vice president for intellectual property at <a href="/facts/WarnerMedia/MvXvu3lU">Time Warner</a>. Prior to her notable roles, she practiced law at the <a href="/facts/Paul%2c_Weiss%2c_Rifkind%2c_Wharton_%2526_Garrison/G3a07Xuq">Paul, Weiss</a> law firm in New York where she practiced <a href="/facts/Commercial_law/S13U8JKr">commercial litigation</a>.
As an academic, she is a research fellow of the <a href="/facts/University_of_Oxford/ExVVQL6V">University of Oxford</a> Intellectual Property Research Centre. From 1990 until 1995, she was a professor of law at the <a href="/facts/Catholic_University_of_America/85gl74XY">Catholic University of America</a> teaching copyright, <a href="/facts/Trademark/B23H8IS0">trademark</a>, <a href="/facts/Anti-competitive_practices/W3Gt8IQR">unfair competition</a>, and international intellectual property law. Aside from academic journals articles and government reports, Perlmutter is the coauthor of a leading law school casebook on international intellectual property law and policy.
Both in public lecture and in her academic writing, Perlmutter says the American people desire copyright laws that make sense, are fair, and reflect technology currently in use. She argues that the failure of law to adapt quickly to technological change causes disruption to trade, inefficiencies, among other negative effects.

Shira Perlmutter open-in-new

Shira Perlmutter