diff --git a/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManager.java b/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManager.java
index 2804f2b..d5f7777 100644
--- a/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManager.java
+++ b/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManager.java
@@ -723,7 +723,7 @@
             log( LogService.LOG_DEBUG, "registering services", m_componentMetadata, null );
 
             // get a copy of the component properties as service properties
-            Dictionary serviceProperties = copyTo( null, getProperties() );
+            final Dictionary serviceProperties = getServiceProperties();
 
             return getActivator().getBundleContext().registerService(
                     getComponentMetadata().getServiceMetadata().getProvides(),
@@ -925,6 +925,17 @@
     public abstract Dictionary getProperties();
 
     /**
+     * Returns the subset of component properties to be used as service
+     * properties. These properties are all component properties where property
+     * name does not start with dot (.), properties which are considered
+     * private.
+     */
+    public Dictionary getServiceProperties()
+    {
+        return copyTo( null, getProperties(), false);
+    }
+
+    /**
      * Copies the properties from the <code>source</code> <code>Dictionary</code>
      * into the <code>target</code> <code>Dictionary</code>.
      *
@@ -938,7 +949,31 @@
      *      <code>source</code> is <code>null</code> or empty and
      *      <code>target</code> was <code>null</code>.
      */
-    protected Dictionary copyTo( Dictionary target, Dictionary source )
+    protected static Dictionary copyTo( Dictionary target, Dictionary source )
+    {
+        return copyTo( target, source, true );
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Copies the properties from the <code>source</code> <code>Dictionary</code>
+     * into the <code>target</code> <code>Dictionary</code> except for private
+     * properties (whose name has a leading dot) which are only copied if the
+     * <code>allProps</code> parameter is <code>true</code>.
+     *
+     * @param target    The <code>Dictionary</code> into which to copy the
+     *                  properties. If <code>null</code> a new <code>Hashtable</code> is
+     *                  created.
+     * @param source    The <code>Dictionary</code> providing the properties to
+     *                  copy. If <code>null</code> or empty, nothing is copied.
+     * @param allProps  Whether all properties (<code>true</code>) or only the
+     *                  public properties (<code>false</code>) are to be copied.
+     *
+     * @return The <code>target</code> is returned, which may be empty if
+     *         <code>source</code> is <code>null</code> or empty and
+     *         <code>target</code> was <code>null</code> or all properties are
+     *         private and had not to be copied
+     */
+    protected static Dictionary copyTo( Dictionary target, final Dictionary source, final boolean allProps )
     {
         if ( target == null )
         {
@@ -949,14 +984,19 @@
         {
             for ( Enumeration ce = source.keys(); ce.hasMoreElements(); )
             {
-                Object key = ce.nextElement();
-                target.put( key, source.get( key ) );
+                // cast is save, because key must be a string as per the spec
+                String key = ( String ) ce.nextElement();
+                if ( allProps || key.charAt( 0 ) != '.' )
+                {
+                    target.put( key, source.get( key ) );
+                }
             }
         }
 
         return target;
     }
 
+
     /**
      *
      */
diff --git a/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/ImmediateComponentManager.java b/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/ImmediateComponentManager.java
index 449f9a2..d57b505 100644
--- a/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/ImmediateComponentManager.java
+++ b/scr/src/main/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/ImmediateComponentManager.java
@@ -440,7 +440,7 @@
         {
             try
             {
-                final Dictionary regProps = copyTo( null, props );
+                final Dictionary regProps = getServiceProperties();
                 sr.setProperties( regProps );
             }
             catch ( IllegalStateException ise )
diff --git a/scr/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManagerTest.java b/scr/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManagerTest.java
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5d34b99
--- /dev/null
+++ b/scr/src/test/java/org/apache/felix/scr/impl/manager/AbstractComponentManagerTest.java
@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+/*
+ * Licensed to the Apache Software Foundation (ASF) under one
+ * or more contributor license agreements.  See the NOTICE file
+ * distributed with this work for additional information
+ * regarding copyright ownership.  The ASF licenses this file
+ * to you under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the
+ * "License"); you may not use this file except in compliance
+ * with the License.  You may obtain a copy of the License at
+ *
+ *   http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+ *
+ * Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing,
+ * software distributed under the License is distributed on an
+ * "AS IS" BASIS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY
+ * KIND, either express or implied.  See the License for the
+ * specific language governing permissions and limitations
+ * under the License.
+ */
+package org.apache.felix.scr.impl.manager;
+
+import java.util.Hashtable;
+import junit.framework.TestCase;
+
+public class AbstractComponentManagerTest extends TestCase
+{
+
+    public void test_copyTo_withoutExclusions()
+    {
+        final Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
+        ht.put( "p1", "v1" );
+        ht.put( "p.2", "v2" );
+        ht.put( ".p3", "v3" );
+        final Hashtable dict = (Hashtable) AbstractComponentManager.copyTo( null, ht, true );
+        assertNotNull( "Copy result is not null", dict );
+        assertEquals( "Number of items", 3, dict.size() );
+        assertEquals( "Value for key p1", "v1", dict.get( "p1" ) );
+        assertEquals( "Value for key p.2", "v2", dict.get( "p.2" ) );
+        assertEquals( "Value for key .p3", "v3", dict.get( ".p3" ) );
+    }
+
+    public void test_copyTo_excludingStartingWithDot()
+    {
+        final Hashtable ht = new Hashtable();
+        ht.put( "p1", "v1" );
+        ht.put( "p.2", "v2" );
+        ht.put( ".p3", "v3" );
+        final Hashtable dict = (Hashtable) AbstractComponentManager.copyTo( null, ht, false );
+        assertNotNull( "Copy result is not null", dict );
+        assertEquals( "Number of items", 2, dict.size() );
+        assertEquals( "Value for key p1", "v1", dict.get( "p1" ) );
+        assertEquals( "Value for key p.2", "v2", dict.get( "p.2" ) );
+    }
+
+}