If you recently received a certificate of copyright registration from the U.S. Copyright Office or expect to in the near future, be vigilant because they may be unsigned.

Along with other chaos and uncertainties caused by the Trump administration, the Copyright Office is currently without a Director and Register of Copyrights because Shira Perlmutter was fired. Thus, currently there is no individual filling the appropriate role of signor of certificates.

Although the Copyright Act does not expressly require that a certificate of registration be signed, there is, unfortunately, a question as to whether an unsigned certificate of registration is valid.

This is because Section 410(a) of the Copyright Act says it is the Register of Copyrights who “determines” whether the deposited work is copyrightable and registers the work and issues the certificate of registration:

(a) When, after examination, the Register of Copyrights determines that, in accordance with the provisions of this title, the material deposited constitutes copyrightable subject matter and that the other legal and formal requirements of this title have been met, the Register shall register the claim and issue to the applicant a certificate of registration under the seal of the Copyright Office.

Absent a Register to make the appropriate determinations of copyrightability and issue certificates of registration, it is unclear whether an issued certificate would comply with the statute.

This point may need to be litigated, but we can only hope that the administration gets a new Director and Register in there quickly.