Public Domain
The Crawling Hand
1963 · Hansen Enterprises · Dir. Herbert L. Strock
After an astronaut space capsule is detonated in orbit, with the astronaut begging to be killed, a teenager couple finds a severed arm on a remote beach. The boy takes the arm home, where it becomes animate and the alien force which animates it soon possesses his mind as well.
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a manual renewal with the U.S. Copyright Office during their 28th year of protection to maintain copyright. 'The Crawling Hand' was released in 1963 and registered for copyright by Hansen Enterprises on September 3, 1963 (registration number LP26362). To remain protected, the copyright had to be renewed in 1991.
A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the U.S. Copyright Office's online records (which include renewals for this period) shows no renewal filing for this title or registration number. The film is also listed as public domain in 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1960-1969)' by D. Richard Baer. The lack of renewal by 1991 (the year before the 1992 Automatic Renewal Act took effect) resulted in the film entering the public domain in the United States on January 1, 1992.
Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- U.S. Copyright Office Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), Motion Pictures and Filmstrips, July-Dec 1963, p. 77
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database
- Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1960-1969) by D. Richard Baer
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films (1961-1970)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.