Washington
Trump administration fires top copyright official
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter, days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office.
The office said in a statement Sunday that Perlmutter received an email from the White House a day earlier with the notification that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.”
On Thursday, President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress, as part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.
Hayden named Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.
Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems and then compete in the same market as the human-made works they were trained on.
The report, the third part of a lengthy AI study, follows a review that Perlmutter began in 2023 with opinions from thousands of people including AI developers, actors and country singers.
In January, the office clarified its approach as one based on the “centrality of human creativity” in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections. The office receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of creative works.
“Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine ... would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”
Perlmutter, who holds a law degree, was previously a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and worked on copyright and other areas of intellectual property. She also previously worked at the Copyright Office in the late 1990s. She did not return messages left Sunday.
Georgia
State shields maker of Roundup weed killer from some cancer claims
In a victory for global agrochemical maker Bayer, Georgia has become the second state to shield pesticide manufacturers from some lawsuits claiming that they failed to warn customers of potential dangers.
The legislation signed Friday by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is designed to protect Bayer from lawsuits claiming that it failed to tell customers that its popular weed killer Roundup could cause cancer. It’s written broadly enough to provide legal protection in Georgia to any pesticide manufacturer that follows federal labeling requirements.
North Dakota’s governor signed the first such law last month, and similar measures have been considered this year in at least nine other states.
Bayer, based in Germany, acquired Roundup with the 2018 purchase of St. Louis-based Monsanto. But it quickly was hit with an onslaught of lawsuits alleging that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. More than 67,000 of a total 181,000 claims involving Roundup remain outstanding, but a Bayer spokesperson said Monday that he didn’t have specifics about how many of those are in Georgia.
Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
Bayer insists glyphosate is safe. But it has stopped using the ingredient in its residential version of Roundup and has set aside $16 billion to settle cases. It continues to use glyphosate in its agricultural version of Roundup but has warned that it might have to stop doing so if the legal costs keep mounting.
The new Georgia law is to take effect Jan. 1. That means it won’t effect existing cases, such as a March decision by a Georgia jury to award nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who alleged Roundup caused his cancer.
Bayer has teamed up with a coalition of agricultural industry groups to mount a multiprong campaign. In addition to pursuing legislation in states and Congress, it also has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and has run ads on billboards, newspapers, TV and radio stations and internet sites touting the importance of glyphosate in agriculture.
Glyphosate has for decades been used an efficient way to control weeds with less tilling, which helps prevent soil erosion. For some crops, such as corn, soybeans and cotton, Roundup is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist glyphosate’s deadly effect.
Without glyphosate, weeds could become harder to control, crop yields could decline and groceries could become more costly, Bayer said.
The new law “demonstrates that Georgia stands with its farmers, who work tirelessly to produce safe and affordable food,” said Brian Naber, president of Bayer’s crop sciences in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Hawaii
Drug companies to pay state $700 million to settle Plavix blood thinner lawsuit
HONOLULU (AP) — Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to pay Hawaii $700 million to settle its lawsuit over the efficacy and safety of the blood thinner Plavix, the state attorney general’s office announced Friday.
A court ruling last year ordered Bristol Myers Squibb Company and three U.S.-based subsidiaries of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi to pay a combined $916 million.
But before an appeal was decided, a settlement was reached for the lower amount, the attorney general’s office said.
In a joint statement, the companies said they “are pleased to resolve this litigation, and to continue their companies’ focus on discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines to patients.”
“Plavix has helped millions of people with cardiovascular disease around the world for nearly 30 years and it continues to be endorsed as a first-line therapy by leading treatment guidelines across the globe,” the statement added.
First Circuit Court Judge James Ashford found that there was a risk that about 30% of patients, particularly non-Caucasians, might have a “diminished response” to Plavix but the companies did not update their labels, Attorney General Anne Lopez said last year.
Neither company has admitted wrongdoing.
Gov. Josh Green called it a “landmark settlement” and a “major victory” for the state.
The settlement divides the $700 million equally between Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi, with the funds to be paid by wire transfer by June 9, the attorney general’s office said.
Trump administration fires top copyright official
WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration has fired the nation’s top copyright official, Shira Perlmutter, days after abruptly terminating the head of the Library of Congress, which oversees the U.S. Copyright Office.
The office said in a statement Sunday that Perlmutter received an email from the White House a day earlier with the notification that “your position as the Register of Copyrights and Director at the U.S. Copyright Office is terminated effective immediately.”
On Thursday, President Donald Trump fired Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, the first woman and the first African American to be librarian of Congress, as part of the administration’s ongoing purge of government officials perceived to oppose the president and his agenda.
Hayden named Perlmutter to lead the Copyright Office in October 2020.
Perlmutter’s office recently released a report examining whether artificial intelligence companies can use copyrighted materials to “train” their AI systems and then compete in the same market as the human-made works they were trained on.
The report, the third part of a lengthy AI study, follows a review that Perlmutter began in 2023 with opinions from thousands of people including AI developers, actors and country singers.
In January, the office clarified its approach as one based on the “centrality of human creativity” in authoring a work that warrants copyright protections. The office receives about half a million copyright applications per year covering millions of creative works.
“Where that creativity is expressed through the use of AI systems, it continues to enjoy protection,” Perlmutter said in January. “Extending protection to material whose expressive elements are determined by a machine ... would undermine rather than further the constitutional goals of copyright.”
Perlmutter, who holds a law degree, was previously a policy director at the Patent and Trademark Office and worked on copyright and other areas of intellectual property. She also previously worked at the Copyright Office in the late 1990s. She did not return messages left Sunday.
Georgia
State shields maker of Roundup weed killer from some cancer claims
In a victory for global agrochemical maker Bayer, Georgia has become the second state to shield pesticide manufacturers from some lawsuits claiming that they failed to warn customers of potential dangers.
The legislation signed Friday by Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp is designed to protect Bayer from lawsuits claiming that it failed to tell customers that its popular weed killer Roundup could cause cancer. It’s written broadly enough to provide legal protection in Georgia to any pesticide manufacturer that follows federal labeling requirements.
North Dakota’s governor signed the first such law last month, and similar measures have been considered this year in at least nine other states.
Bayer, based in Germany, acquired Roundup with the 2018 purchase of St. Louis-based Monsanto. But it quickly was hit with an onslaught of lawsuits alleging that Roundup’s key ingredient, glyphosate, causes non-Hodgkin lymphoma. More than 67,000 of a total 181,000 claims involving Roundup remain outstanding, but a Bayer spokesperson said Monday that he didn’t have specifics about how many of those are in Georgia.
Though some studies associate glyphosate with cancer, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has said it is not likely to be carcinogenic to humans when used as directed.
Bayer insists glyphosate is safe. But it has stopped using the ingredient in its residential version of Roundup and has set aside $16 billion to settle cases. It continues to use glyphosate in its agricultural version of Roundup but has warned that it might have to stop doing so if the legal costs keep mounting.
The new Georgia law is to take effect Jan. 1. That means it won’t effect existing cases, such as a March decision by a Georgia jury to award nearly $2.1 billion in damages to a man who alleged Roundup caused his cancer.
Bayer has teamed up with a coalition of agricultural industry groups to mount a multiprong campaign. In addition to pursuing legislation in states and Congress, it also has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to intervene and has run ads on billboards, newspapers, TV and radio stations and internet sites touting the importance of glyphosate in agriculture.
Glyphosate has for decades been used an efficient way to control weeds with less tilling, which helps prevent soil erosion. For some crops, such as corn, soybeans and cotton, Roundup is designed to work with genetically modified seeds that resist glyphosate’s deadly effect.
Without glyphosate, weeds could become harder to control, crop yields could decline and groceries could become more costly, Bayer said.
The new law “demonstrates that Georgia stands with its farmers, who work tirelessly to produce safe and affordable food,” said Brian Naber, president of Bayer’s crop sciences in North America, Australia and New Zealand.
Hawaii
Drug companies to pay state $700 million to settle Plavix blood thinner lawsuit
HONOLULU (AP) — Pharmaceutical companies have agreed to pay Hawaii $700 million to settle its lawsuit over the efficacy and safety of the blood thinner Plavix, the state attorney general’s office announced Friday.
A court ruling last year ordered Bristol Myers Squibb Company and three U.S.-based subsidiaries of French pharmaceutical company Sanofi to pay a combined $916 million.
But before an appeal was decided, a settlement was reached for the lower amount, the attorney general’s office said.
In a joint statement, the companies said they “are pleased to resolve this litigation, and to continue their companies’ focus on discovering, developing, and delivering innovative medicines to patients.”
“Plavix has helped millions of people with cardiovascular disease around the world for nearly 30 years and it continues to be endorsed as a first-line therapy by leading treatment guidelines across the globe,” the statement added.
First Circuit Court Judge James Ashford found that there was a risk that about 30% of patients, particularly non-Caucasians, might have a “diminished response” to Plavix but the companies did not update their labels, Attorney General Anne Lopez said last year.
Neither company has admitted wrongdoing.
Gov. Josh Green called it a “landmark settlement” and a “major victory” for the state.
The settlement divides the $700 million equally between Bristol Myers Squibb and Sanofi, with the funds to be paid by wire transfer by June 9, the attorney general’s office said.
