The Killer Shrews

The Killer Shrews was originally released in 1959 and was registered for US copyright by Hollywood Pictures Corp. on July 10, 1959, under registration number LP15858. Under the law at the time (the 1909 Copyright Act), works from this era required a renewal filed with the Copyright Office during the 28th year of the initial term to extend protection to a second term. For a 1959 registration, the renewal window was open in 1986 or 1987. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, the US Copyright Office online records (which cover 1978 to present), and the Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1950–1959) by David Pierce confirms that no renewal was ever filed for this title. 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, officially expiring on December 31, 1987. The film's public domain status is widely recognized in the industry; it has been released by dozens of budget home video distributors (such as Alpha Video, Mill Creek, and Sinister Cinema) who specialize in public domain titles, and it was famously featured on Mystery Science Theater 3000, which frequently utilized films with lapsed copyrights.