Beware, My Lovely

Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first copyright term to remain protected. 'Beware, My Lovely' was originally registered for copyright by RKO Radio Pictures, Inc. on June 4, 1952, under registration number LP1782. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal registration for this motion picture. For a 1952 release, the renewal window occurred in 1979–1980. The failure to file a renewal application before the end of the initial 28-year term caused the work to expire and enter the public domain in the United States. This is confirmed by the film's inclusion in several reputable public domain film reference guides, such as Film Superlist (Hurst), and its widespread availability on public domain streaming platforms and physical media collections from PD-specialist distributors like Alpha Video.