Title 28Judiciary and Judicial ProcedureRelease 119-73

§1744 Copies of United States Patent and Trademark Office documents, generally

Title 28 › Part PART V— - PROCEDURE › Chapter CHAPTER 115— - EVIDENCE; DOCUMENTARY › § 1744

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

Sealed, certified copies of patents and other USPTO records count as originals in court if certified by the Under Secretary and the USPTO Director or by an officer the Director authorizes. Anyone who applies and pays the fee may obtain them.

Full Legal Text

Title 28, §1744

Judiciary and Judicial Procedure — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

Copies of letters patent or of any records, books, papers, or drawings belonging to the United States Patent and Trademark Office and relating to patents, authenticated under the seal of the United States Patent and Trademark Office and certified by the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office, or by another officer of the United States Patent and Trademark Office authorized to do so by the Director, shall be admissible in evidence with the same effect as the originals. Any person making application and paying the required fee may obtain such certified copies.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Historical and Revision Notes

Based on section 127 of title 15, U.S.C., 1940 ed., Commerce and Trade, and title 28, U.S.C., 1940 ed., § 673 (R.S. § 892; Mar. 19, 1920, ch. 104, § 7, 41 Stat. 535; Mar. 4, 1925, ch. 535, § 2, 43 Stat. 1269). For purposes of uniformity, words “written or printed,” at the beginning of the section, were omitted. Similar sections in this chapter do not contain such words. Words “or in his name attested by a chief of division duly designated by the commissioner,” after “Commissioner of Patents,” were omitted as unnecessary. Changes in phraseology were made.

Editorial Notes

Amendments

1999—Pub. L. 106–113 substituted “United States Patent and Trademark Office” for “Patent Office” wherever appearing in section catchline and text and in text substituted “Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the United States Patent and Trademark Office” for “Commissioner of Patents” and “Director” for “Commissioner”. 1949—Act May 24, 1949, substituted “patents” after “relating to” for “registered trade-marks, labels, or prints”, and inserted “or by another officer of the Patent Office authorized to do so by the Commissioner” after “Commissioner of Patents”.

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

of 1999 AmendmentAmendment by Pub. L. 106–113 effective 4 months after Nov. 29, 1999, see section 1000(a)(9) [title IV, § 4731] of Pub. L. 106–113, set out as a note under section 1 of Title 35, Patents.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

28 U.S.C. § 1744

Title 28Judiciary and Judicial Procedure

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73