A Notorious Affair

The film 'A Notorious Affair', starring Billie Dove and Basil Rathbone, was released in April 1930 by First National Pictures (a subsidiary of Warner Bros.). As a work published between 1928 and 1963, its copyright protection was contingent upon a valid renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of its initial term. I conducted a search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE). While the film was originally registered for copyright on May 4, 1930 (LP1278), no renewal record was found during its eligibility window (1957–1958). Failure to renew during this mandatory period caused the work to lapse into the public domain in the United States upon the expiration of its first 28-year term in 1958. This is consistent with many early sound films from the First National library that were not prioritized for renewal by the successor-in-interest, Warner Bros.