A Cry From The Grave

This work was originally produced as an episode of the television anthology series 'The Unexpected' (also known as 'Times Square Playhouse'). The specific episode was first broadcast in 1952, but many series records in the Catalog of Copyright Entries list 1954 as the registration or publication year for the individual segments. Under the 1909 Copyright Act, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a formal renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first term to maintain protection. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries confirms that while Ziv Television Programs registered many of their properties, this specific production was never renewed. The 28-year window for a 1952-1954 registration would have closed in the early 1980s. Because no renewal record exists, the work fell into the public domain in the United States upon the expiration of its initial 28-year term. It is currently found in multiple public domain film collections and is frequently included in '100 Classic TV' compilation sets sold by PD distributors like Mill Creek Entertainment.