When does official copyright protection begin?

Question

Artistic works are copyrighted by default, of course. However, filing an official copyright application confers additional benefits. But does one have to wait until a copyright application has been processed and the person who filed it duly notified, or can one submit an application in, say, late November 2023, then publish your book(s) on December 1?

To put it another way, if one submits an official copyright application, then publishes the book before being notified that your copyright has been accepted and filed, does one risk voiding the copyright or creating other problems?

Answer 1

canada united-states

Copyright is vested in the first owner upon creation (more precisely, fixation¹) of an original work.

Publishing before the copyright registration is completed does not diminish the copyright.

However, any acts that depend on the benefits of registration would need to wait for registration to be complete. E.g. in the United States, the copyright owner cannot file a lawsuit to enforce or protect its copyrights until the U.S. Copyright Office has issued a registration.

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^{1. And for Canada, see Wikipedia: Fixation in Canadian Copyright Law.}