Chinatown Squad

Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a manual renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first term to maintain protection. Chinatown Squad was originally registered by Universal Pictures on May 22, 1935 (LP5569). Examination of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal record for this title in the years 1962 or 1963. The 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' confirms that the copyright for this production was not renewed, causing it to fall into the public domain in 1963. While Universal holds a large library of its pre-1950 films (many of which were sold to EMKA/MCA), Chinatown Squad is widely documented as an unrenewed title and is frequently listed in public domain film catalogs. Because this is a US production from 1935, there are no URAA restoration implications.