Godzilla Raids Again entering public domain? ...not yet.

Classic Godzilla film "Godzilla Raids Again" was first released way back in 1955, it being the second film within the Godzilla franchise and the first movie to star lovable Anguirus.

As such its timeline would have placed it within a public domain status in 2012...if laws surrounding this hadn't been changed back in 1979.

So says a fascinating article within datblog.com chronicling various other potential public domain films.

Public domain is a fascinating concept to me.

In essence various products and ideas all become universally free of licensing/royalty rights after a certain period of time.

A common scenario is one seeing old cartoons/movies jumbled as DVD "collections" that sell for very cheap prices. The rights behind these cartoons have expired and anyone is able to sell/distribute them now.

Superman, Mickey Mouse, Tom Sawyer, War of the Worlds, etc., these are just examples of some characters having certain products freely available to use.

But because laws changed in 1979 that extended ownership rights (I'm sure enabled by families and estates who own them) we may not see "Godzilla Raids Again" in such a category at least until 2050.

For further info on this fascinating subject here's the original website:

datblog.com: Your New Year Public Domain Report 2012