17 U.S.C. § 705

Copyright Office records: Preparation, maintenance, public inspection, and searching

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(a) The Register of Copyrights shall ensure that records of deposits, registrations, recordations, and other actions taken under this title are maintained, and that indexes of such records are prepared.(b) Such records and indexes, as well as the articles deposited in connection with completed copyright registrations and retained under the control of the Copyright Office, shall be open to public inspection.(c) Upon request and payment of the fee specified by section 708, the Copyright Office shall make a search of its public records, indexes, and deposits, and shall furnish a report of the information they disclose with respect to any particular deposits, registrations, or recorded documents.(Pub. L. 94–553, title I, § 101, Oct. 19, 1976, 90 Stat. 2592; Pub. L. 106–379, § 3(a)(2), Oct. 27, 2000, 114 Stat. 1445.)Editorial NotesAmendments

2000—Subsec. (a). Pub. L. 106–379 amended subsec. (a) generally. Prior to amendment, subsec. (a) read as follows: “The Register of Copyrights shall provide and keep in the Copyright Office records of all deposits, registrations, recordations, and other actions taken under this title, and shall prepare indexes of all such records.”

Notes of Decisions
Cited in 9 cases (4 in the last 5 years), 1994–2025 · leading case: Sysco Mach. Corp. v. DCS USA Corp., 143 F.4th 222 (4th Cir. 2025).
Sysco Mach. Corp. v. DCS USA Corp., 143 F.4th 222 (4th Cir. 2025). · cites it 2× “See 17 U.S.C. § 705 (b) (making copyright registration records open to public inspection).”
Compuware Corp. v. Serena Software Int'l, Inc., 77 F. Supp. 2d 816 (E.D. Mich. 1999). “§§ 407 , 408 (1996), and (2) provides that the submitted copy will be open for public inspection, see 17 U.S.C. § 705 (a), (b). The record in this cause suggests that Compuware complied with this federal statutory imperative, but did not request special permission to submit a…”
William A. Graham Co. v. Haughey, 430 F. Supp. 2d 458 (E.D. Pa. 2006). · cites it 2× “17 U.S.C. § 705 (b). That section provides that “articles deposited in connection with completed copyright registrations and retained under the control of the Copyright Office, shall be open to public inspection.”
Tedder Boat Ramp Sys., Inc. v. Hillsborough Cnty., 54 F. Supp. 2d 1300 (M.D. Fla. 1999). “See 17 U.S.C.A. § 705 . Consequently, Plaintiffs design cannot constitute a trade secret since the information is generally known or readily accessible to third parties.”
Merch. v. Lymon, 848 F. Supp. 29 (S.D.N.Y. 1994). “17 U.S.C. § 705 (c). 4 Such a search would have revealed a recorded transfer of copyright interest to Windswept on October 14, 1988.”
Siegler v. Sorrento Therapeutics, Inc. (Fed. Cir. 2021). · cites it 2× “See Siegler II, 2019 WL 581719 , at *10 (citing, inter alia, 17 U.S.C. § 705 (b)). Moreover, the court found that the Second Amended Complaint’s new allega- tion that Siegler sent drafts of the copyrighted articles to Dr.”
LADS Network Solutions, Inc. v. Agilis Sys., LLC (E.D. Mo. 2022). “While the public may inspect deposit materials, see 17 U.S.C. § 705 (b), the inaccuracies in the redacted portions of the deposit material appended to Plaintiff’s September 15, 2014, copyright application would not have been any more apparent to the public than they had been to…”
Dassault Systemes SolidWorks Corp. v. Linear Eng'g & Mfg. Corp (M.D. Fla. 2024). “01 prescribes a bifurcated procedure for determining attorney’s fees, noting that “[a] party claiming post-judgment attorney's fees and related non- taxable expenses must obtain an order determining entitlement before providing a a court may award reasonable attorney’s fees to…”
John D. Watkins v. Se. Newspapers, Inc., 163 F. App'x 823 (11th Cir. 2006). “See 17 U.S.C. § 705 (c) (authorizing the Copyright Office to “make a search of its public records, indexes, and deposits,” for, among other things, information regarding the registration of copyrights).”
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