Sensation Seekers

The film 'Sensation Seekers', directed by Lois Weber and released by Universal Pictures on March 20, 1927, was originally registered for copyright under entry LP23595. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, titles published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing in the 28th year to maintain protection; however, because this film was released in 1927, it fell under a different expiration window before the law was extended. Even if treated under the renewal rules for the late 1920s, no renewal record is found in the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database or the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE). According to the 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' by D. Richard Baer, the copyright was not renewed, causing it to lapse into the public domain 28 years after its initial registration. Most significantly, as a US work published before January 1, 1928, it automatically entered the public domain in the United States upon the expiration of its maximum possible term, and all films from 1927 and earlier are now definitively public domain as of January 1, 2023.