US Copyright Office Court Battle Rages On: Shira Perlmutter’s ‘Emergency’ Injunction Denied; Appeals Court Next

Ex-Register of Copyrights Shira Perlmutter. Photo Credit: David Rice

Three months later, Shira Perlmutter’s reinstatement-focused lawsuit against the Trump administration is still chugging along. Now, the presiding judge has denied the fired USCO head’s emergency motion for injunction pending appeal.

Judge Timothy Kelly just recently handed down the corresponding order following a formal request from Perlmutter and her legal team closer to August’s beginning. And as we reported, this push arrived on the heels of a rejected temporary restraining order as well as a denied preliminary injunction.

In short, each of the distinct pushes tied back to an objective of removing acting Copyright Office and Library officials while putting Perlmutter back at the helm of the former.

The court, the ex-Register and her counsel wrote when seeking the similar injunction pending appeal, should bar acting Librarian of Congress Todd Blanche and acting Register of Copyrights Paul Perkins “from exercising the powers” of the positions.

Additionally, the judge should confirm that “Perlmutter may not be removed from her office…absent a decision by a lawfully appointed Librarian of Congress to remove her from that office” pending appeal, the plaintiff maintained.

Now, as initially mentioned, Judge Kelly has once again opted against granting an injunction, pointing to Perlmutter’s failure to demonstrate irreparable harm absent the sought relief.

As some will recall, the same reasoning factored heavily into the court’s denial of the restraining order and the preliminary injunction.

“The Court will deny Perlmutter’s motion because she has not shown that she faces irreparable harm, ‘grave’ or otherwise, absent an injunction pending appeal,” Judge Kelly wrote. “She presents the same three irreparable-harm arguments the Court has already considered and rejected twice.”

Additionally, “Perlmutter cannot rely on alleged harms to the Library or Copyright Office because she must show that she— not third parties—will be irreparably harmed,” the court continued. “Finally, even if she could rely on harms to third parties, Perlmutter’s asserted harms to the Library and Copyright Office flowing from her temporary removal are speculative at best.”

Meanwhile, the suit itself is moving forward; earlier this month, both sides submitted a briefing schedule for their respective summary judgement motions.

Judge Kelly then approved the timetable, with the nearest deadline calling for Perlmutter to kick things off by September 8th.

Separately – and in a testament to the multifaceted legal battle’s many moving parts – Perlmutter’s appeal of the preliminary injunction denial is also in full swing. Two weeks and change back, Team Perlmutter submitted a distinct emergency motion for injunction pending appeal to the appellate court.

The filing more or less doubled down on existing arguments – stated briefly, that Perlmutter’s removal was unlawful and that she must reassume the post at once owing to “the importance and urgency of” her work at the intersection of AI and copyright law.

Per a subsequent order from the appellate panel, the Trump administration’s response was due by August 15th. However, the retort didn’t appear to be available via the docket at the time of this writing.

Link to the source article – https://www.digitalmusicnews.com/2025/08/26/shira-perlmutter-emergency-injunction-denied/