412. Registration as prerequisite to certain remedies for infringement

This statute establishes the penalty for failure to timely register a copyright with the U.S. Copyright Office and states when a registration will be considered timely.

In any action under this title, other than an action brought for a violation of the rights of the author under section 106A(a) or an action instituted under section 411(b), no award of statutory damages or of attorney’s fees, as provided by sections 504 and 505, shall be made for—

any infringement of copyright in an unpublished work commenced before the effective date of its registration; or
any infringement of copyright commenced after first publication of the work and before the effective date of its registration, unless such registration is made within three months after the first publication of the work.