Reign of Terror

The film, also known as 'The Black Book', was released in 1949 and was originally registered for copyright by Walter Wanger Pictures, Inc. on June 15, 1949 (LP2460). Under the Copyright Act of 1909, US works from this era required a renewal filing between the 27th and 28th year of their first term to maintain protection for a second term. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries confirms that no renewal was filed for this title during the 1976 or 1977 eligibility window. Film Superlist (Hurst/Baer) and Pierce’s Motion Picture Copyrights and Renewals consistently list the film as 'No renewal found'. Its presence in the public domain is well-documented, evidenced by its widespread availability in PD catalogs such as Alpha Video and the Internet Archive with no takedown history. Consequently, the film entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 1978.