Black Beauty

The film 'Black Beauty' (directed by David Smith and starring Jean Paige) was released in February 1921 by the Vitagraph Company of America. Under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1909 and the subsequent Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, all works published in the United States before January 1, 1928, have entered the public domain regardless of whether their copyright was ever renewed. Because the film was published in 1921, its maximum possible term of protection was 95 years, which expired on December 31, 2016. However, even prior to that extension, the film's 1921 publication date places it in the categorical public domain window for all pre-1928 works as of January 1, 2023. No further search of renewal records is necessary because the absolute protection limit for this year has passed.