Congolaise

Congolaise, a documentary/travelogue about the French Middle Congo, was released in the United States in early 1950 by Film Classics, Inc. It was registered for copyright with the US Copyright Office on April 17, 1950, under registration number MP122. Under the 1909 Copyright Act, works registered in 1950 were required to have their copyright renewed during the 28th year of the initial term (1977 or early 1978) to extend protection to a second 28-year term. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal registration for this film under the titles 'Congolaise,' 'Congo' (the 1945 short it was expanded from), or 'The Congo I Knew.' Because the copyright was not renewed in a timely manner, the film entered the public domain in the United States at the end of its first 28-year term (December 31, 1978). The work is consistently listed as public domain in authoritative secondary literature, including the Hurst/Baer 'Film Superlist'.