GW Law Library: Library Guides: Copyright Law: Primary Sources

Federal Statutes

United States Code (U.S.C.)
Official Code of federal laws, organized by subject matter. Revised every six years and updated between revisions with annual cumulative supplements. (Title 17 - Copyrights.)
United States Code Annotated (U.S.C.A.)
West's unofficial version of the United States Code, which includes many research features. (Title 17 - Copyrights.)
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Updated with annual supplements called "pocket parts" and periodic supplemental pamphlets. Extensive annotations following the code section provide citations to court cases, federal regulations, law review articles, and legislative history documents.
United States Code Service (U.S.C.S.)
Lexis's unofficial version of the United States Code, which includes many research features. (Title 17 - Copyrights.)
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Extensive annotations following the code section provide citations to court cases, federal regulations, law review articles, and legislative history documents.
Copyright Law of the United States and Related Laws Contained in Title 17 of the United States Code
This publication (also known as Circular 92) "contains the text of Title 17 of the United States Code, including all amendments enacted by Congress . . . . It includes the Copyright Act of 1976 and all subsequent amendments to copyright law; the Semiconductor Chip Protection Act of 1984, as amended; and the Vessel Hull Design Protection Act, as amended. The Copyright Office is responsible for registering intellectual property claims under all three."

Case Law, Administrative Decisions, & Dockets

Topical Reporters and Databases:

Copyright Law Reporter
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Coverage includes "federal laws and regulations governing copyright law. Copyright circulars and reference materials, as well as administrative forms are included. The Reporter provides the full text of court decisions from 1978 to present."
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Updated every six weeks.
Lexis: Copyright Law Cases
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Westlaw: Federal Copyright Cases
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United States Patents Quarterly (U.S.P.Q.2d)
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Includes the full-text of court opinions and administrative decisions concerning copyright law, including opinions from the Supreme Court of the United States, the United States Courts of Appeals, and the United States District Courts, in which copyright infringement actions are litigated.
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Despite its title, the U.S.P.Q. covers all major intellectual property law areas.
Westlaw: American Law Reports - Intellectual Property
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American Law Reports (ALR) annotations are based upon cases that represent emerging, unsettled, or changing areas of the law or legal issues. Articles explore the law of the jurisdictions that have dealt with the relevant issue and include references to cases on both sides of the issue.
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ALR is a secondary source, but the annotations identify relevant judicial opinions.

Federal Case Law Reporters:

United States Reports (U.S.)
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Contains the final, official opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States.
West's Supreme Court Reporter (S. Ct.)
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Contains the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, along with headnotes, Key Numbers, and synopses. Unofficial reporter, but current.
United States Supreme Court Reports, Lawyers' Edition (L. Ed., L. Ed. 2d)
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Contains the opinions of the Supreme Court of the United States, along with summaries, headnotes, and research references. Unofficial reporter, but current.
Federal Reporter (F., F.2d, F.3d)
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Contains opinions of the United States Courts of Appeals.
Federal Supplement (F. Supp., F. Supp. 2d, F. Supp. 3d)
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Contains opinions of the United States District Courts, in which copyright infringement actions are litigated.

Administrative Decisions:

U.S. Copyright Office: Review Board
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"The Copyright Office Review Board hears final administrative appeals of refusals of copyright registration. This page contains an online database of those decisions from April 2016 to present. The decisions are searchable through an index." For more information about the process for appealing a refusal to register a copyright claim within the U.S. Copyright Office, see Chapter 1700, Administrative Appeals, in the Compendium of U.S. Copyright Office Practices.
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The Review Board is composed of "the Register of Copyrights and the General Counsel of the Copyright Office (or their respective designees) and a third individual designated by the Register that hears second requests for reconsideration of the Registration Program’s decision to refuse to register a claim to copyright."

Bloomberg Law: Dockets
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Full coverage of federal court dockets, including copyright trials and appeals.
Docket Navigator: Copyright Dockets
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Covers U.S. District Court cases involving copyright infringement claims. (Docket Navigator also covers patent, trademark, and antitrust cases.) For a free academic account, send an email to contact@docketnavigator.com and provide your first and last name, GW Law email address, and, for students, anticipated date of graduation (month/year); for faculty and deans, your title.
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"For over a decade, Docket Navigator has been a must-have patent litigation intelligence platform for more than 15,000 judges, lawyers and legal professionals. Recently expanded to cover trademark, copyright, and antitrust litigation, Docket Navigator is the only service that reports every significant event, in every case, every day. Our U.S. based legal editors curate litigation data by hand, recording up to 29 different types of data for each court document and up to 19 different types of data for each case. The result is the most detailed, most accurate, and most comprehensive litigation database available. Our daily email reports and custom alerts keep you up to date, while our research database, special reports, and enhanced analytics help you make more informed, data driven decisions."
Lex Machina: Legal Analytics for Copyright Litigation
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Founded by Stanford Law School Professor Mark Lemley, Lex Machina includes IP litigation data and analytics. Lex Machina provides free access to "certain university and college faculty staff and students, directly engaged in research, or study of law and policy." Users must view a brief online training demo in order to obtain or renew a user account.
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"Lex Machina’s Legal Analytics for Copyright Litigation provides attorneys and the authors of works, or accused infringers, they represent with the ability to make data-driven decisions about federal copyright case strategy and tactics. Now, you can use quantified insights into the behavior of district court judges, opposing parties, and opposing counsel to gain competitive advantage in copyright litigation. Lex Machina’s copyright data lets you analyze federal cases with one or more claims of infringement brought under 17 USC § 101, including claims of ownership, validity, license, equitable defense or fair use, including declaratory judgment actions."

Federal Regulations

Code of Federal Regulations (C.F.R.)
Codification of final rules published in the Federal Register. Title 37 (Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights) includes codified U.S. Copyright Office regulations.
eCFR (Electronic Code of Federal Regulations)
Currently updated unofficial version of the C.F.R. Title 37 (Patents, Trademarks, and Copyrights) includes codified U.S. Copyright Office regulations.
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Produced by the National Archives and Records Administration's Office of the Federal Register (OFR) and the Government Publishing Office.
Federal Register (Fed. Reg.)
Official publication of federal agency rulemaking, including the U.S. Copyright Office.
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Published Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.
U.S. Copyright Office: Rulemakings
Includes open and closed rulemakings.

Proposed Legislation & Legislative History

Proposed Legislation:

Bloomberg Law's Trademarks & Copyrights Practice Center
Includes "IP Legislative Tracker" and "Pending Copyright Legislation" pages.
U.S. Copyright Office: Legislative Developments
Congress.gov
Official site for U.S. federal legislative information.
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"Presented by the Library of Congress using data from the Office of the Clerk of the U.S. House of Representatives, the Office of the Secretary of the Senate, the Government Publishing Office, Congressional Budget Office, and the Congressional Research Service."

Legislative History:

HeinOnline: Intellectual Property Legislative Histories
Includes compiled legislative histories of copyright legislation, including the Copyright Act of 1976 (Public Law No. 94–553).
ProQuest Legislative Insight
Compiled legislative histories of federal statutes, including the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (Public Law No. 105-304).
ProQuest Congressional
Massive archive of Congressional documents, including reports and hearings.

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