I find this annoying since it makes the so-called "automatic copyright when you've created something" pretty much meaningless, does it not?
As a US citizen, yes, to a large extent it does make it meaningless. I believe you can still issue take-down notices but if you have to resort to the courts, you can't file for copyright infringement unless you have registered your copyright with the US Copyright Office. This leads to the bizarre situation whereby foreign citizens have more automatic rights in US courts than US citizens do??!!
This is because as a signatory to the Berne convention, US courts have to respect the copyrights of other signatory nations. Therefore, if I create a script as a UK citizen, I can file a copyright infringement suit in a US court against a US citizen regardless of whether or not I've ever registered my script. If that same script had been written by you (an American citizen), you wouldn't be able to file suit in a US court (without a registration certificate).
In practice this scenario would not likely occur though, because as I mentioned previously, unless I had registered my script with the US Copyright Office I would only be able to sue for actual damages, I couldn't claim for legal costs (or statutory damages). And, as legal costs are so high in the US, I'll probably loose money even if I win, thereby effectively preventing me from filing in the first place! This means that even as a foreign citizen living thousands of miles outside the US, to secure my automatic international rights I too should pay the fees and register my script with the US Copyright Office.
All of which, to a significant extent, makes a nonsense of the fundamental principle of the Berne Convention and even of the US' own constitution. To be honest, I find it hypocritical of the US to constantly make a fuss about China and others not respecting US copyrights, when in practice the US doesn't demonstrate much respect for anyone else's. It just looks like the kettle calling the pot black for political point scoring!
G