The Trial

Orson Welles' 'The Trial' (Le Procès) was originally released in Europe in 1962 and premiered in the United States in early 1963. According to the Film Superlist and general copyright research by the American Film Institute and independent scholars, the film was published in the United States without a valid copyright notice. Under the law at the time (17 USC §405), failure to include a proper notice upon first publication in the United States without timely registration caused the work to enter the public domain immediately. While many foreign films from this era had their copyrights restored in 1996 under the URAA (17 USC §104A), restoration was only possible if the work was still under copyright in its 'source country' on the date of restoration (January 1, 1996). In the case of 'The Trial', the film was co-produced by companies in multiple countries, but the specific contractual and copyright lapses in its European countries of origin meant that it was not eligible for URAA restoration in the United States. Consequently, the film is widely recognized as being in the public domain and has been distributed by numerous PD-exclusive labels for decades without legal challenge from the Welles estate or the original production entities.