Shira Perlmutter has been named associate register of copyrights for policy and international affairs, a new senior level position in the Copyright Office. She reports directly to Register of Copyrights Marybeth Peters.
Ms. Perlmutter's office will centralize the Copyright Office's policy and international copyright work. She said that the role of her office is one of objective support for Congress. "We are not following our own agenda," she said. "Rather we should serve as a source of information and objective counsel."
Ms. Perlmutter, who worked part-time at the Library from October until December, was previously an associate law professor at Catholic University of America. She also served as an associate attorney in New York City.
Ms. Perlmutter has won awards for her articles on copyright law.
In 1993, Dr. Billington asked Ms. Perlmutter to serve as one of 20 persons on the Advisory Committee on Copyright Registration and Deposit.
She also has served as the copyright consultant to the Clinton administration's Advisory Committee on the National Information Infrastructure. She is also on advisory boards for the Bureau of National Affairs's Patent, Trademark and Copyright Law Journal, the Journal of the Copyright Society of the U.S.A. and the American Intellectual Property Association Quarterly Journal. She is also a member of the executive committee of the Association Litt‚raire et Artistique Internationale, which focuses on international issues relating to authorship.
Ms. Perlmutter earned her A.B. degree in linguistics from Harvard University in 1978, and her J.D. degree from the University of Pennsylvania Law School in 1983.
A native of Philadelphia, Ms. Perlmutter lives in Washington.
