A Unicorn in the Garden

A Unicorn in the Garden is a 1953 animated short film based on the story by James Thurber and distributed by Columbia Pictures. Under the copyright laws governing works published between 1928 and 1963, a valid copyright required a registration and a subsequent renewal in the 28th year to remain protected. Research of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) confirms that the film was registered for copyright by Columbia Pictures Corp. (registration number MP4031) on September 24, 1953. Critically, a valid renewal was filed on August 21, 1981, under the number RE097486 (identifying Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. as the claimant), which extended the film's protection for the full 95-year term. Because the copyright was properly registered and timely renewed, the film will not enter the public domain in the United States until January 1, 2049 (95 years from the year of publication).