Studio One: Sentence of Death

This work is an episode of the television anthology series 'Studio One', originally broadcast on August 17, 1953. For works published or broadcast between 1928 and 1963, US copyright law required a renewal filing with the Copyright Office during the 28th year of the first term to extend protection. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) indicates that while the 'Studio One' series was a major network production, specific individual episodes from the early 1950s—including 'Sentence of Death'—were generally not registered as motion pictures or were not renewed by CBS or its successors. While some episodes were later controlled through underlying rights (such as a play or novel), the broadcast itself entered the public domain when the initial 28-year term expired in 1981 without a renewal on file. Furthermore, 'Sentence of Death' (notably featuring James Dean) is widely available in the public domain via numerous budget DVD labels and the Internet Archive, which are common indicators of a lapsed copyright. No active registration or renewal record matches this specific telecast date in the physical or online US Copyright Office records.