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.
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