The Illinois State Bar Association will be publishing an article of mine soon. It discusses the recent Supreme Court decision in Fourth Estate Pub. Benefit Corp. v. Wall-Street.com, LLC. In that case, the Court cleared up a debate concerning prerequisites for filing a copyright lawsuit.
Do you need a registration of a copyright, or just a pending application for registration, to file an infringement lawsuit. You need a registration.

This provides all the more reason for my clients to take advantage of the relatively easy and cheap copyright registration process. Contact me if you have any questions about registering your copyrights.