Revolt in the Big House

Revolt in the Big House was released in November 1958 and originally registered for copyright by Allied Artists Pictures Corp. on October 29, 1958, under registration number LP12398. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works registered between 1928 and 1963 required a manual renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of the first term to extend protection to a second term. A thorough search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal record for this title or registration number. Because the copyright was not renewed in 1985 or 1986 (the 27th and 28th years), the film's legal protection expired at the end of its first 28-year term, entering the public domain on January 1, 1987. The film's public domain status is further corroborated by its inclusion in various PD film catalogs and its availability on public domain streaming archives without legal challenge from the successor of Allied Artists (Warner Bros. currently holds much of the AA library, but only for films with valid renewals).