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I am not a lawyer, but just registering copyright doesn't, as far as I know, actually change the ownership. Registering is about creating a record for the purposes of litigation and commerce. It's like putting an advert in the paper saying you bought a car; it doesn't suddenly make you the owner of the car if you never actually bought it.
Your contract doesn't seem, from what you've said, to transfer or assign it elsewhere; instead, it says the publisher has to register it in your name. So it would appear (and again, I am not a lawyer) that you still own the copyright, but that the publisher has made a false claim on it.
I can't advise a course of action, but I think the paper trail would clearly show that you own the work and that the copyright never went anywhere else. Good luck with it.
Your contract doesn't seem, from what you've said, to transfer or assign it elsewhere; instead, it says the publisher has to register it in your name. So it would appear (and again, I am not a lawyer) that you still own the copyright, but that the publisher has made a false claim on it.
I can't advise a course of action, but I think the paper trail would clearly show that you own the work and that the copyright never went anywhere else. Good luck with it.