Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/18pdf/17-571_e29f.pdf
Page Number: 15

12 

FOURTH ESTATE PUB. BENEFIT CORP. v.
WALL-STREET.COM, LLC 
Opinion of the Court 

Mar. 1, 2019).

True, the statutory scheme has not worked as Congress
likely  envisioned.    Registration  processing  times  have
increased from one or two weeks in 1956 to many months 
today.  See  GAO,  Improving  Productivity  in  Copyright 
Registration  3  (GAO–AFMD–83–13  1982);  Registration
Processing  Times.    Delays  in  Copyright  Office  processing 
of  applications,  it  appears,  are  attributable,  in  large 
measure,  to  staffing  and  budgetary  shortages  that  Con-
gress  can  alleviate,  but  courts  cannot  cure.    See  5  W. 
Patry,  Copyright  §17:83  (2019).    Unfortunate  as  the  cur-
rent administrative lag may be, that factor does not allow 
us to revise §411(a)’s congressionally composed text. 

* 

* 

* 
For the reasons stated, we conclude that “registration . . . 
has been made” within the meaning of 17 U. S. C. §411(a) 
not when an application for registration is filed, but when 
the Register has registered a copyright after  examining a
properly  filed  application.  The  judgment  of  the  Court  of 
Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit is accordingly 

Affirmed.