The Treasure of Jamaica Reef

The Treasure of Jamaica Reef (also known as 'Evil in the Deep') was released in the United States in early 1974. Under the laws governing the 1964–1977 era, US works were granted automatic renewal, but they still required a valid copyright notice upon publication to secure protection. If a work was published without notice or with a fatally defective notice, it entered the public domain immediately upon publication. Extensive research in the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) and the online Copyright Office records shows no original registration for this film under either of its titles. Furthermore, the film is widely documented by film historians and PD distributors (such as Alpha Video and Mill Creek) as having entered the public domain due to the lack of a proper copyright notice on the original theatrical prints. The film was also heavily featured in '50-movie packs' of public domain titles throughout the 1990s and 2000s without legal challenge from the original producers (Golden-Selleck Productions). Because the film was a US production and lacks both a registration and evidence of valid notice, it is considered public domain in the United States.