Game Shows and Public Domain...

[TimK2003]

A friend of mine asked me this the other day...

Are there any TV game shows of the past, including unsold game show pilots, that are now considered to be in public domain -- meaning if there is a copy of the show out there somewhere, it can be copied, aired, and/or sold to anyone by anyone since the copyrights were never renewed by the creator/producer of the show?

More specifically, do any of the "You Bet Your Life" shows fall into that category?

[Jimmy Owen]

It used to be that anything without a copyright notice or not registered with the Library of Congress was in public domain, I think that has changed retroactively recently.  As far as YBYL, go to most Dollar Tree stores and you'll find at least one YBYL DVD for a dollar that must be in the public domain, since any royalties would drive the price up to the level of the NBC-authorized box set.