Crime, Inc.

Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first copyright term to remain protected. 'Crime, Inc.' was originally released and registered for copyright in 1945 by Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC) under registration number LP13155, dated March 25, 1945. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) indicates that no renewal was filed for this motion picture during its renewal window in 1972 or 1973. PRC was a 'Poverty Row' studio that underwent several corporate transitions (eventually being absorbed by Eagle-Lion and later United Artists), and many of its titles fell into the public domain due to administrative oversight during these transitions. The film is widely recognized as public domain by film historians and is listed in the 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' by D. Richard Baer. It has been extensively distributed for decades by public domain labels such as Alpha Video and is available for unrestricted streaming and download on the Internet Archive without copyright challenge.