*A copyright registration is effective on the date the Copyright Office
receives all the required elements in acceptable form*, regardless of
how long it then takes to process the application and mail the
certificate of registration. The time the Copyright Office requires to
process an application varies, depending on the amount of material the
Office is receiving.
If you apply for copyright registration, you will not receive an
acknowledgment that your application has been received (the Office
receives more than 600,000 applications annually), but you can expect:
+ A letter or a telephone call from a Copyright Office staff member if
further information is needed or
+ A certificate of registration indicating that the work has been
registered, or if the application cannot be accepted, a letter
explaining why it has been rejected.
Requests to have certificates available for pickup in the Public
Information Office or to have certificates sent by Federal Express or
another mail service cannot be honored.
If you want to know the date that the Copyright Office receives your
material, send it by registered or certified mail and request a return
receipt.
------------------------------------------------------------------------