209 The Certificate of Registration, the Registration Decision Date, and the Effective Date of Registration
After conducting an examination, if the U.S. Copyright Office determines that the work constitutes copyrightable subject matter and that the other legal and formal requirements have been met, the Office will register the claim. The Office will issue a certificate of registration which contains much of the information that the applicant provided in the application. In addition, the Office will create an online public record for the registration, which may be accessed through the Office’s online database. See 17 U.S.C. § 410 (A).
Both the certificate and the online public record contain a registration number and an effective date of registration. The certificate may also contain a registration decision date.
The “registration decision date” is the date that the registration specialist completed his or her examination and approved the claim. The “effective date of registration” is the date on which the Office received an acceptable application, complete deposit copy(ies), and the proper filing fee. See 17 U.S.C. § 410 (D). For detailed information on this topic, see Chapter 600, Section 625.