Has anyone gone through this process? Is it even necessary? Any help on this topic would be 'preciated.

Yes I have, and I recommend this if you are a software developer. To make things easier you can setup an account with The Library of Congress, each time you revise your program you can apply for another copyright and bill it against your account... For more info:

http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

Nolo press has some wonderfull information:

Nolo Press: Copyright Your Software by Attorney Stephen Fishman

ISBN: 0-87337-494-0

It has helped me and I have a copyright on one of my solutions...

What I submitted was a printout of each layout and each script and relationship and field definitions.

Note it will take almost 3-6 months for your certificate to return to you.

This does protect any name you may have chosen including a logo or package design, although you have copyright for such elements, These are best protected under Trademark law and this is more expensive, usually $300-600 or more, if an attorney is involved, you can do it your self but I would recommend an attorney to specialize.

Good luck...

SD