The Yellow Canary

The Yellow Canary is a 1943 British espionage thriller starring Anna Neagle. Under the 1909 US Copyright Act, foreign films required a valid US registration and renewal to maintain protection in the United States. A search of the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) and the Stanford Renewal Database confirms that RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. registered the film for US copyright on October 11, 1943 (Registration No. Lp12399). Crucially, a renewal was filed on March 8, 1971 (Renewal No. R501908) by RKO General, Inc. as the proprietor of a composite work. Furthermore, because the film was still under copyright in its source country (the United Kingdom) on January 1, 1996, its US copyright status would have been subject to restoration under the URAA (17 USC § 104A) even if the original registration had lapsed. However, the successful 1971 renewal means the film never entered the US public domain. It is currently under protection for a term of 95 years from the date of publication, expiring at the end of 2038. The film is currently actively distributed and licensed, appearing in the catalogs of major rights holders like Paramount (via their acquisition of Republic/RKO libraries). Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.