Privacy Warning
All Filings and Contents are Available to the Public
With very limited statutory exceptions, all filings and information contained in filings you submit to the Secretary of State will become a public record, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing and street addresses. By submitting a document for filing in public records, you do not have a right to confidentiality in the information being provided, unless a statute expressly provides that the information in that filing is not public. The public will be able to view this information in the Secretary of State's records and computer databases and through the information posted on the Secretary of State's website. This information also may appear in Internet search engines and other online databases through private companies that acquire the information.
The information remains public as long as the document is a record with the Secretary of State, even for those business entities that are later converted, merged, suspended, forfeited, dissolved, surrendered, cancelled, or expired. However, banking and credit card information, is confidential and protected by statute and is not available for public inspection. Additionally, the Secretary of State redacts driver’s licenses, social security numbers, credit card information, and banking information, when possible from public filings. This highly sensitive personal information only should be submitted in a public filing when specifically required by statute. Please note that detailed financial transaction information for any payments made by check or with a credit card, charge card or bank card is confidential as well as secure, and never is made part of any publicly viewable Secretary of State record.
The bizfile California portal provides access to electronic filing systems developed by the Secretary of State and also developed through the use of a cloud software as a service (SaaS) provider that use a State of California approved third-party payment processor to ensure Payment Card Industry compliance and to ensure compliance with California and federal privacy laws. The third-party payment processing vendors and SaaS provider are responsible for maintaining the privacy and security of that financial information.
For more information about privacy, please consult our FAQs Personal Information in Public Filings. More information on accessing public records is available through the Secretary of State's Guidelines for Access to Public Records (PDF).
Terms and Conditions of Use
Welcome to bizfile California, the Internet website portal of the Business Programs Division of the California Secretary of State for online filings and services. As is true for many other websites providing online services, the bizfile California portal has rules that apply to your use of this website and your use of a credit card to pay for any services available through this website. Those rules are referred to as "terms and conditions of use," and are set forth in this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement between you and the State of California and the California Secretary of State. By submitting online filings, using a credit card to pay for services, and checking the box agreeing to these Terms and Conditions of Use, (or by clicking the “I Agree” button), you are agreeing to comply with and be bound by the following Terms and Conditions of Use. You must accept these Terms and Conditions of Use if you wish to use the online filings and services provided by the bizfile California portal, and you must accept the Terms and Conditions of Use "as is" without any changes (no additions or deletions are permissible).
Your use of the online filings and services provided by the bizfile California portal also is subject to the California Secretary of State's External Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference as if fully set forth herein.
Who Owns This Website? This website is owned by the State of California, under the operation of the California Secretary of State. The California Secretary of State is the statutorily authorized filing officer for certain business filings, Uniform Commercial Code and other lien filings. The Business Programs Division maintains these records.
Who may use the Online Filings and Services? You may use the online filings and services of this website if you are a person that has reached the age of majority, can form a binding contract with the State of California and the California Secretary of State, and are not a person barred in California or the United States of America or other applicable jurisdiction, including the country in which you reside or from where you use the bizfile California portal, from doing business or receiving services in California. If you are accepting these Terms and Conditions of Use on behalf of a company, organization, government, or other legal entity, you represent and warrant that you are authorized to do so.
Fees and Payment Methods. In accordance with California law, the California Secretary of State’s office has adopted specific electronic filings and services with associated fees. Users of this website for online filings and services must pay all required fees in advance.
Refund Policy. All fees paid for business filings transactions and Uniform Commercial Code transactions are nonrefundable. In the event of an overpayment or rare circumstance of an erroneous charge, a written request for the return of the overpayment or erroneous charge must be made to the California Secretary of State, Statement of Information - Financial Section, 1500 11th Street, Sacramento, CA 95814. The written request must include information about the overpayment or erroneous charge, including the date of the credit card transaction, the type of credit card used (e.g. Visa or MasterCard) and a copy of the payment acknowledgement/receipt issued by the California Secretary of State, or other documentation showing the transaction details and charge, and contact information for the person requesting a refund. The refund request will be reviewed in order to determine if a refund is warranted. No cash refunds will be issued. If a refund is found to be justified, a request will be made to the California State Controller’s office to issue a warrant to the cardholder (a warrant is similar to a check) in the relevant amount of the refund. You should allow 4-6 weeks for a response.
Availability of the Website. This website may be unavailable from time to time due to routine maintenance requirements. The California Secretary of State does not guarantee specific hours of availability. Additionally, although the Secretary of State takes reasonable steps to ensure data in online filing systems is refreshed in a timely manner, the data in online filing systems may be behind the data of actual filings in the Secretary of State's main systems of record.
Privacy and Filings. Generally, all filings and contents are available to the Public. Filings and information contained in filings you submit to the Secretary of State are public record, including names, phone numbers, email addresses, and mailing and street addresses, except as provided in statutes. To avoid issues related to identity theft you should avoid using and submitting confidential information in public filings unless specifically required by statute. The public can view information and download documents contained in the California Secretary of State’s electronic records using digital search tools and information posted on the California Secretary of State’s website. Also, please note that individuals and private companies use this public information to create third party access to these records.
For more information about privacy, consult our FAQs Personal Information in Public Filings. More information on accessing public records is available through the California Secretary of State's Guidelines for Access to Public Records.
Security. The State of California and the California Secretary of State, as developers and managers of this website, have taken steps to safeguard the integrity of the telecommunications and computing infrastructure, including but not limited to authentication, monitoring, auditing, and encryption. Security measures have been integrated into the design, implementation, and day-to-day practices of the operating environment as part of the continuing commitment to risk management. This information should not be construed in any way as giving business, legal, or other advice, or warranting as fail proof the security of information provided via the California Secretary of State's supported website. All provisions and penalties as described in California Penal Code section 502 shall apply to this Terms and Conditions of Use. User's should ensure that the computer and software used to access the website, including the Internet browser software, are up to date with all security patches and software, hardware and firmware updates and should ensure that up-to-date anti-virus and anti-malware software is used when accessing the online filings and services provided by the bizfile California portal.
Your Use Obligations. You are responsible for all activities undertaken by you using any services provided by the California Secretary of State. All such activities are at your own risk. You shall not use, nor permit others to use, this website or any California Secretary of State services provided through this website in a manner or for a purpose contrary to these Terms and Conditions of Use. If using a customer account or login, you are responsible for all activities that occur under your password or account, and will keep your password(s) confidential. You will immediately notify the California Secretary of State of any unauthorized use of your password or account or any other breach of security. You will not disrupt the functioning of the website, solicit another user’s password, or otherwise act in a way that interferes with other users’ use of the website. You will not post or distribute any computer program that damages, detrimentally interferes with, surreptitiously intercepts, or expropriates any system, data, or personal information.
Prohibited Uses. The user of the California Secretary of State's website and online filing systems is prohibited from using the website or online filing systems in any way to:
- Restrict or inhibit another user from using and enjoying the website;
- Post or transmit any unlawful, threatening, abusive, libelous, defamatory, obscene, vulgar, pornographic, profane, or indecent information of any kind, including without limitation any transmissions constituting or encouraging conduct that would constitute a criminal offense, give rise to civil liability, or otherwise violate any local, state, national, or international law;
- Post or transmit comments containing harassing or offensive language, including sexual references, sexual nicknames, racial slurs, or rude or deliberately offensive comments, or engage in disruptive activities online, including excessive use of scripts, sound waves, scrolling (repeating the same message over and over);
- Access another person's or entity's account information or briefcase files without the permission of that person or entity;
- Post or transmit any information, software, or other material which violates or infringes the rights of others, including material which is an invasion of privacy or publicity rights or which is protected by copyright, trademark, or other proprietary right without first obtaining permission from the owner or right holder;
- Upload, post, or otherwise transmit any information, software, or other material that contains a "deep link," "page-scrape," "robot," "spider," or other automatic device, program, algorithm or methodology, or any similar or equivalent manual process to access, acquire, copy or monitor any portion of this website or any content, or in any way reproduce or circumvent the navigational structure or presentation of this website or any content, to obtain or attempt to obtain any materials, documents or information through any means not made purposely available through the website; (The California Secretary of State reserves the right to bar such activity.)
- Attempt to gain unauthorized access to any portion or feature of the website, or any other systems or networks connected to the website or to any State of California or the California Secretary of State server, or to any of the services offered on or through the website, by hacking, password "mining" or any other illegitimate means;
- Probe, scan or test the vulnerability of the website or any network connected to the website, nor breach the security or authentication measures on the website or any network connected to the website;
- Reverse look-up, trace or seek to trace any information on any other user of or visitor to the website, or any other customer of the State of California or the California Secretary of State, including any California Secretary of State account not owned by you, to its source, or exploit the website or any service or information made available or offered by or through the website, in any way where the purpose is to reveal any information, including but not limited to personal identification or information, other than your own information, as provided for by the website;
- Take any action that imposes an unreasonable or disproportionately large load on the infrastructure of the website or the State of California or the California Secretary of State’s systems or networks, or any systems or networks connected to the website or to the California Secretary of State;
- Use any device, software or routine to interfere or attempt to interfere with the proper working of the website or any transaction being conducted on the website, or with any other person’s use of the website;
- Forge headers or otherwise manipulate identifiers in order to disguise the origin of any message or transmittal you send to the California Secretary of State on or through the website or any service offered on or through the website;
- Use the website or any content for any purpose that is unlawful or prohibited by these Terms and Conditions of Use, or to solicit the performance of any illegal activity or other activity which infringes the rights of the State of California or the California Secretary of State or others;
- Upload, post, or otherwise transmit any information, software, or other material that contains a virus, worm, time bomb, trap door, or any other harmful component that is designed to interrupt, destroy, impair, or limit the functionality or interfere in the performance of the products and services of the State of California or the California Secretary of State ;
- Post or transmit content that encourages or provides instructional activities about illegal activities, such as hacking;
- Post, transmit, or in any way exploit any information, software, or other material for advertising or commercial purposes;
- Solicit other users to join, become members of, or contribute money to any online service or other organization, advocate or attempt to get users to join in legal or illegal schemes, or plan or participate in scams involving other users;
- Impersonate any person or entity or falsely state or otherwise misrepresent your professional or other affiliation with any person or entity including, but not limited to, the State of California, the California Secretary of State, or other governmental official or employee;
- Decompile, disassemble, modify, translate, adapt, reverse engineer, create derivative works from, or sublicense any proprietary software deployed in connection with the California Secretary of State products and services;
- Use the website to collect personally identifying information about users of the website in violation of the California Secretary of State 's Privacy Policy; or
- Perform any activities that the California Secretary of State determines (in its sole discretion) may be harmful to the California Secretary of State, the website, or other users of the website.
Right to Change the Website and Services Provided. The California Secretary of State reserves the right at any time and from time to time to modify or discontinue, temporarily or permanently, any services provided through this website (or any part thereof) with or without notice. The California Secretary of State also may discontinue, edit, delete or change any aspect of the website, including, but not limited to: (i) restricting availability times; (ii) restricting compatibility with certain computer software or hardware; (iii) restricting amounts of use permitted; and (iv) restricting, suspending, or terminating any user's right to use the website, at the California Secretary of State 's sole discretion and without prior notice or liability. You agree that California Secretary of State shall not be liable to you or to any third party for any modification, suspension, or discontinuance of such services.
Intellectual Property Rights. The content organization, graphics, design, computer code, compilation, and other materials on or related to the website are protected under applicable copyright, trademark, and other proprietary and intellectual property rights of their respective owners. The data that is published on or collected via our website related to filings is public information. There is no restriction placed on the use of such filing data by the California Secretary of State, although certain information and names contained in the data may be owned by third parties and may be protected under applicable copyright, trademark, and other proprietary and intellectual property rights of those third parties. The names bizfile California, UCC Connect, the logos, and other names for the California Secretary of State online products and services are trademarks and service marks of the State of California and the California Secretary of State. Other product and company names mentioned on the website may be trademarks/service marks of their respective owners. You do not acquire ownership rights to any content, document, or other materials viewed or created through the website or obtained from the website.
Limitation of Liability. The California Secretary of State attempts to maintain the highest accuracy of content on its website. Any errors or omissions should be reported for investigation. The California Secretary of State makes no claims, promises, or guarantees about the absolute accuracy, completeness, or adequacy of the contents of this website and expressly disclaims liability for errors and omissions in the contents of this website.
NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, IMPLIED, EXPRESSED, OR STATUTORY, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO THE WARRANTIES OF NON-INFRINGEMENT OF THIRD PARTY RIGHTS, TITLE, MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND FREEDOM FROM COMPUTER VIRUS, IS GIVEN WITH RESPECT TO THE CONTENTS OF THIS WEBSITE OR ITS HYPERLINKS TO OTHER INTERNET RESOURCES. REFERENCE IN THIS WEBSITE TO ANY SPECIFIC COMMERCIAL PRODUCTS, PROCESSES, OR SERVICES, OR THE USE OF ANY TRADE, FIRM, OR CORPORATION NAME IS FOR THE INFORMATION AND CONVENIENCE OF THE PUBLIC, AND DOES NOT CONSTITUTE ENDORSEMENT, RECOMMENDATION, OR FAVORING BY THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA, THE CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE OR ITS EMPLOYEES OR AGENTS. THIS TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF USE AGREEMENT IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.
NEITHER THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA OR THE CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE WILL BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION DAMAGES FOR LOSS OF PROFITS, GOODWILL, USE, DATA OR OTHER INTANGIBLE LOSSES (EVEN IF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA OR THE CALIFORNIA SECRETARY OF STATE HAS BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES) RESULTING FROM THE USE OR THE INABILITY TO USE THE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEMS OR ANY SERVICES RELATING TO THE ONLINE ELECTRONIC FILING SYSTEMS.
Indemnification. You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless the State of California and the California Secretary of State, their affiliates, and their respective, officers, employees, and agents from and against any and all claims, actions, suits, or proceedings, as well as any and all losses, liabilities, damages, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (a) any material posted or otherwise provided by you that infringes any copyright, trademark, trade secret, patent, or other intellectual property right of any person or defames any person or violates their rights of publicity or privacy; (b) any misrepresentation made by you in connection with your use of the website; (c) any violation by you of this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement; and (d) any claims brought by other persons or entities arising from or related to your use of the website, including information obtained through the website. Indemnification by a federal, state, or local governmental unit is only to the extent allowed by law.
Disclaimer. Every attempt has been made to ensure that the information contained on the California Secretary of State website is accurate at the time of publication. However, due to the possibility of human or mechanical error and other factors, the California Secretary of State's office will not be responsible for any loss, consequence, or damage resulting directly or indirectly from reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of the information. Additionally, the State of California and the California Secretary of State are not responsible for the content, completeness or accuracy of any document filed in this office that was prepared and submitted for filing by others. Customers should periodically review the documents on file in this office to determine and ensure that the documents and information are complete and accurate. Neither the California Secretary of State’s office nor any division, officer, or employee of the California Secretary of State warrants the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of any information on this website, and shall not be liable for any losses resulting directly or indirectly from such reliance on the accuracy, reliability, or timeliness of such information. Any person or entity who relies on any information obtained from the website does so at his, her or its own risk.
Links to Other websites. The California Secretary of State’s bizfile California portal has links to websites we feel might be useful to you and which may provide services. When you link to another website, you are no longer on our website and are subject to the privacy and use policies of the new website. These websites are neither controlled, sponsored nor endorsed by the California Secretary of State's office. This office takes no responsibility for the views, content or accuracy of any such linked information. It is the responsibility of the user to evaluate the content, quality, and accuracy of materials or information obtained from such sites. All such information is provided "as is." Information received via the Secretary of State’s website should not be construed as legal, tax or financial advice; an appropriate professional should be consulted regarding your particular situation.
Monitoring. The California Secretary of State has no obligation to monitor this website, however, the California Secretary of State reserves the right to, and may, from time to time, monitor any and all information transmitted or received through the website, to ensure proper operation, to verify the functioning of applicable security features, and for comparable purposes. Anyone using this website or online filing systems expressly consents to such monitoring. Unauthorized attempts to modify any information stored on this website or online filing systems, to defeat or circumvent security features, or to utilize this website or online filing systems for other than the intended purposes are prohibited and may result in criminal prosecution.
Minors. Children are not eligible to use website services that require submission of personal information, including those requiring payments by credit card, and we prohibit minors (under the age of 18) from submitting any personal information to us. This prohibition includes submitting personal information to the State of California or the California Secretary of State as part of a user profile or personalization profile. If you have agreed to allow your minor child, or a child for whom you are the parent or legal guardian (a "Minor"), to use the website, you the parent or legal guardian agree that you shall be solely responsible for: (a) all online conduct of such Minor; (b) monitoring such Minor's access to and use of the website; and (c) the consequences of any use of the website by such Minor, including being responsible for payments for any applicable fees.
Infringement Policy. The California Secretary of State respects the intellectual property of others, and asks you to do the same. The California Secretary of State reserves the right, but not the obligation, to terminate your use of the website if it determines in its sole and absolute discretion that you are involved in infringing activity, including alleged acts of first-time or repeat infringement, regardless of whether the material or activity is ultimately determined to be infringing.
Miscellaneous. This Terms and Conditions of Use agreement is the entire agreement between you and the State of California and the California Secretary of State and shall be treated as though it were executed and performed in Sacramento, Sacramento County, California and shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of the State of California (without regard to conflict of law principles). The language in this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement shall be interpreted as to its fair meaning and not strictly for or against either party. All legal proceedings arising out of or in connection with this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement shall be brought solely in Sacramento County, California. You expressly submit to the exclusive jurisdiction and venue of said courts and consent to extra-territorial service of process. Should any part of this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement be held invalid or unenforceable, that portion shall be construed consistent with the applicable law and the remaining portions shall remain in full force and effect. To the extent that anything in or associated with the website is in conflict or inconsistent with this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement, this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement shall take precedence. The California Secretary of State’s delay or failure to enforce any provision of this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement shall not be deemed a waiver of such provision nor of the right to enforce such provision. No waiver by either party of any breach or default hereunder shall be deemed a waiver of any subsequent breach or default. The titles and subtitles used in this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement are used for convenience only and are not to be considered in construing or interpreting this Terms and Conditions of Use agreement.
