Famous Ghost Stories

Famous Ghost Stories (1961), a horror-comedy anthology film hosted by and starring Vincent Price, is in the public domain in the United States due to non-renewal of its copyright. The film was originally registered for copyright on November 15, 1961, under the name of Bertram Goldberg Productions (LP21136). Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works registered between 1928 and 1963 required a manual renewal filing with the U.S. Copyright Office during the 28th year of the initial term to extend protection for a second term. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database, the U. Penn online Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), and the Film Superlist: 1960–1969 indicates that no renewal was filed for this title or its associated registration number between 1988 and 1990. Because the copyright was not renewed, the work entered the public domain upon the expiration of its first 28-year term at the end of 1989. The film is frequently found in public domain DVD collections and on platforms like the Internet Archive without challenge from a rights holder.