The Crooked Circle

The film was originally released on September 25, 1932, by World Wide Pictures. Under the US Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a copyright renewal filing during the 28th year of the initial term to extend protection to the full 75-year term. Failure to renew resulted in the work entering the public domain. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal registration for this title. The initial registration (LP3273) was filed by World Wide Pictures in 1932, but no corresponding renewal was filed in 1959 or 1960. Additionally, the film is listed in 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' by D. Richard Baer as a title that has entered the public domain due to non-renewal. Because the renewal was a mandatory requirement for this era and was not met, the film is in the public domain in the United States.