The Courageous Dr. Christian

The film was released in 1940 and registered for copyright by Stephens-Lang Productions, Inc. (LP9532, March 27, 1940). Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works from this era required a formal renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year of their initial term to maintain protection for a second term. For a 1940 release, the renewal window was open in 1967 and 1968. Extensive searches of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) show no renewal record for this title. While other entries in the Dr. Christian series also lapsed, this specific film was confirmed as non-renewed in 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894-1939/1940-1949)' by David Pierce and D. Richard Baer. Because the copyright was not renewed, the film entered the public domain in the United States at the end of its first 28-year term (December 31, 1968).