Writers Tricks of the Trade SPRING 2017 ISSUE 2, VOLUME 7 | Page 33

C OPYRIGHT O FFICE M ISMANAGEMENT ? (C ONT ’ D )
The internal report (dated February, 2017) detailed mismanagement at the
Copyright Office and suggested that former Copyright Office executives may
have even misled Congress. The report, which was not intended for public
release, was first shared on the web site Techdirt.
Cost overruns from the original budget were huge, but worse yet it looks like
the Office lied to both Congress and the Library to Congress about the system.
Specifically, the IG report examined three projects, including an electronic
licensing project at the Copyright Office dubbed “eLi.” Launched in 2010 with a
$1.1 million budget, costs had ballooned to $11.6 million before eLi was
scrapped in October of 2016 after 6 years of development. The Inspector
General's office concluded that Copyright Office executives mismanaged the
project, and that their failure to accurately disclose the project’s lack of progress
and cost overruns denied Congress and Library executives the chance "to timely
act on and address” problems with the program.
Pallante had led the US Copyright Office since 2011, and the project began
shortly thereafter, so it appears she led the ill-fated project.
Project became a disaster
It seems the project had quickly turned into a complete disaster for the US
Copyright Office. However, this was never reported to Congress. Following
mismanagement after wasting millions of dollars, the Office quietly scrapped the
project.
The report comes at a time when Congress wants to have the Register of
Copyright appointed by the President. If successful, President Trump would
have the power to appoint a Register for ten years. A joint Congressional
statement declared,
“We must ensure that any new Register is a good manager and fu