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Copyright status

The American copyright for Metropolis lapsed in 1953, which led to a proliferation of versions being released on video. Along with other foreign-made works, the film's U.S. copyright was restored in 1996 by the Uruguay Round Agreements Act; the constitutionality of this copyright extension was challenged, but was upheld by the U.S. Supreme Court in 2012's Golan v. Holder. This had the effect of restoring the copyright in the work as of 1 January 1996.

Under current U.S. copyright law, Metropolis entered the public domain on 1 January 2023; the U.S. copyright limit for films of its age is 95 years from publication per the Copyright Term Extension Act.

Under current EU copyright law, the film will remain under copyright in Germany and the rest of the European Union until the end of 2046, 70 years after Fritz Lang's death.