The U.S. Supreme Court has resolved a circuit split regarding whether copyright owners have to wait until they actually receive their registration certificate prior to filing suit or if they can file suit as soon as they’ve filed their application for copyright registration.
Registration it is.
Looking primarily at the text of the Copyright Act, the Court held that registration was required because to hold otherwise would render litigation moot if the Register refused an application for registration after the litigation commenced. And therefore it made more logical sense to require the registration prior to instituting suit.
Now for your friendly copyright protection PSA: Don’t forget that preregistration is an option if you may need to file an infringement suit shortly after your client’s content is loosed on the world, primarily in the fields of music and TV/film where bit torrent sites are rampant.