Timely registration is required in order to file a claim in federal court, and if you have no path to file a suit, the unlawful user of your work has no motive to stop infringing your rights or pay you for the use of the work. “Timely” means before the infringement begins OR within three months of the date of first publication. But the easiest way to be covered is to register the work before it leave your control. The effective date of registration is the date the Copyright Office receives your application.

A Certificate of Registration from the U.S. Copyright Office is considered prima facie evidence that the author named on the certificate is the owner of the work granted copyright registration. This is the important first step in a claim–that a valid owner of a protected work is the party claiming infringement of the copyright.

Although you may initiate a small claim with the Copyright Claims Board without a timely registration, a registration application must be filed concurrently with the small claim, and the Board will only consider your claim active once the certificate is issued.

Although non-U.S. authors are permitted to file claims without timely registration, it is still a prerequisite to obtaining statutory damages and attorneys fees under U.S. law. Without the opportunity for these damage awards, many valid claims can be impractical to pursue.