Miriam DeChant
Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education
Miriam DeChant is the Associate Register of Copyrights and Director of Public Information and Education for the United States Copyright Office. She was appointed to the position effective May 8, 2022.
DeChant oversees the Office of Public Information and Education (PIE), which provides authoritative information about copyright law to the public, implements the Office’s communications plan, publishes comprehensive written and audiovisual materials, develops education and outreach programs, and responds to public inquiries about Office policies and practices. She is an expert copyright attorney and one of four legal advisors to the Register of Copyrights.
Before joining the Office, DeChant was the director of the Global Intellectual Property Academy at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, providing domestic and international intellectual property capacity-building, technical assistance, and education policy and programs. She has also served as co-lead of the U.S. Department of Commerce Equity Council’s Gender Committee. Previously, she was the director of the Philadelphia Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and the founding administrator of the PA Patent pro bono program to provide under-resourced inventors, artists, startups, and creative nonprofits with legal assistance.
DeChant earned a JD from Villanova University School of Law, where she was a member of the Villanova Environmental Law Journal. She has an undergraduate degree in the design field from Colorado State University.
