# RightsAtlas Research Packet — Carnival of Souls (1962)

> ⚠️ **NOT legal advice.** This is a primary-source research packet describing **United States** copyright status only. It is not a clearance certificate and not a DMCA counter-notification. Verify independently before any platform dispute.

**Scope:** Tier A — **film-print layer only**. Music, story, trademark, and restorations are NOT cleared by this packet.
**Packet version:** `2026-07-12-c2bade8`  ·  **Generated:** 2026-10-05  ·  **Country:** US  ·  **Last verified:** 2026-07-12

## ⚠️ Sound recordings (pre-1972)
Sound recordings fixed before **15 Feb 1972** can be protected under state law / the Music Modernization Act until **2067 or later** — the film *print* being public domain does **not** free the music track. Assume the recorded score is a claim risk.

## Film print — Likely public domain
- **notice_failure:** Distributor Herts-Lion released the film in 1962 with a defective/omitted copyright notice; the status is widely documented in retrospectives and acknowledged in home-video liner notes. We have not yet attached a primary renewal-search scan, so we hold this at 'likely' rather than 'verified'. — [Wikipedia summary with sources](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_of_Souls#Release)
- **hosting:** Openly hosted on the Internet Archive for many years. — [Internet Archive](https://archive.org/details/CarnivalofSouls)


## Other layers — NOT cleared by this packet

| Layer | Status | Evidence on file |
|---|---|---|
| Music score | Likely public domain | 1 item(s) |
| Underlying story / screenplay | Likely public domain | 1 item(s) |
| Character trademarks | Likely public domain | 1 item(s) |
| Restorations / re-releases | Not public domain | 1 item(s) |

## What this means
- **Watching:** Watching via the linked archival copies is generally the lowest-risk activity.
- **Reusing / monetizing:** Public-domain case is probable but not fully verified — keep this page's evidence for any dispute.

## Archival copies
- [Internet Archive (h.264)](https://archive.org/details/CarnivalofSouls) · 480p+

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_Valid as of 2026-10-05. Copyright status can change — check the live dossier before relying on this in a dispute:_ https://bitgitty.github.io/rightsatlas/film/carnival-of-souls-1962/