republic-os/legal/us/code/title-17/chapter-15/section-1505.md

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LegalText	17 U.S.C. § 1505	Registration requirement	us	united_states_code	code_section	17	COPYRIGHTS	15	COPYRIGHT SMALL CLAIMS	1505	17 U.S.C. § 1505	current	119-100	2026-06-26	official	https://uscode.house.gov/download/releasepoints/us/pl/119/100/xml_usc17@119-100.zip	/us/usc/t17/s1505	data/legal/raw/us/code/title-17/usc17.xml	54e384f4e4d57ec7f91d87c2deab0496da216cf1094c17b1280fdcd2b2a2a495	53c244d73050c7c92329dce6d1ccd78b9e2fece359d919b044b600b95258446c	05e6346bc9538f9dc477479e6d050712f9ba890c8a5bb9390d666813065bad4d	2026-07-04	official	legal us-code

17 U.S.C. § 1505 - Registration requirement

Text

(a) Application or Certificate.— A claim or counterclaim alleging infringement of an exclusive right in a copyrighted work may not be asserted before the Copyright Claims Board unless—

(1) the legal or beneficial owner of the copyright has first delivered a completed application, a deposit, and the required fee for registration of the copyright to the Copyright Office; and

(2) a registration certificate has either been issued or has not been refused.

(b) Certificate of Registration.— Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a claimant or counterclaimant in a proceeding before the Copyright Claims Board shall be eligible to recover actual damages and profits or statutory damages under this chapter for infringement of a work if the requirements of subsection (a) have been met, except that—

(1) the Copyright Claims Board may not render a determination in the proceeding until—

(A) a registration certificate with respect to the work has been issued by the Copyright Office, submitted to the Copyright Claims Board, and made available to the other parties to the proceeding; and

(B) the other parties to the proceeding have been provided an opportunity to address the registration certificate;

(2) if the proceeding may not proceed further because a registration certificate for the work is pending, the proceeding shall be held in abeyance pending submission of the certificate to the Copyright Claims Board, except that, if the proceeding is held in abeyance for more than 1 year, the Copyright Claims Board may, upon providing written notice to the parties to the proceeding, and 30 days to the parties to respond to the notice, dismiss the proceeding without prejudice; and

(3) if the Copyright Claims Board receives notice that registration with respect to the work has been refused, the proceeding shall be dismissed without prejudice.

(c) Presumption.— In a case in which a registration certificate shows that registration with respect to a work was issued not later than 5 years after the date of the first publication of the work, the presumption under section 410(c) shall apply in a proceeding before the Copyright Claims Board, in addition to relevant principles of law under this title.

(d) Regulations.— In order to ensure that actions before the Copyright Claims Board proceed in a timely manner, the Register of Copyrights shall establish regulations allowing the Copyright Office to make a decision, on an expedited basis, to issue or deny copyright registration for an unregistered work that is at issue before the Board.

(Added Pub. L. 116–260, div. Q, title II, § 212(b), Dec. 27, 2020, 134 Stat. 2184.)