This is correct. In most cases though, registering a copyright is a waste of money, because you still have to defend (pay to defend) your copyright.
So, someone violates your copyright. Now you need to decide if you want to pay a lawyer thousands of dollars to defend a work that brings you (x) amount of income. If it's worth it, you can always register your copyright after the fact, then prove in court that it was published at the point it was indeed published.
Also, in intellectual property, there doesn't have to be much changed to constitute an "original work." This means that someone can copy your idea, make a few minor changes to it, and publish it under their own copyright, staying perfectly legal in the process.
In most cases, in our type of business, you're going to be defending your copyrights mainly through the use of "cease and desist" letters rather than through expensive lawsuits.
It's your choice as to whether you feel it's worth the fee to register your copyright. Just remember, if you want that level of "protection" you need to re-register (and pay another fee) every time your work changes substantially, like if you revise your pattern.
In practice, your level of protection is about the same whether or not you pay a fee to the government...