Our February release slate has several exciting new releases arriving on Blu-ray discs, of which we are very proud. However, this month's offerings are but half of what we had hoped to bring to our loyal customers for the February. The problem here was been a significant delay in the completion of restoration work and mastering, mostly due to scheduling conflicts exacerbated by the recent holiday break. While the February slate is compromised by a fewer number of releases, we are proud of what that limited slate contains, and look forward to getting back to a strong offering of new releases each month of beginning with our next announcement for March. We thank you in advance for your understanding, and appreciate your continued support of the Warner Archive Collection.

Letty Lynton has been unavailable since a federal District Court ruled on January 17, 1936 that the script used by MGM followed too closely the play Dishonored Lady (1930) by Edward Sheldon and Margaret Ayer Barneswithout acquiring the rights to the play or giving credit. On July 28, 1939, the Second Circuit awarded one-fifth of the net of Letty Lynton to plaintiffs Sheldon and Ayer Barnes in their plagiarism and copyright infringement action against MGM.[8][9] This case was incorrectly said to be the first copyright decision ever to direct the apportionment of profits on the relative basis as in patent suits where a patent has been appropriated.[10] A previous similar decision had been made in 1921 in the case of the plagiarism case regarding Al Jolson's 1920 song "Avalon".[[i]citation needed]

MGM petitioned the United States Supreme Court to overturn the Court of Appeals ruling entirely, and the playwrights cross-petitioned. They argued that because the questions arising in the suit were predicated solely upon the copyright laws of the U.S., the court of appeals had erred in relying on principles of patent law to apportion the damages, rather than grant the plaintiffs 100% of MGM's profit. The Supreme Court accepted the playwrights' petition but in 1940 unanimously affirmed the Second Circuit's decision that granted them one fifth, not all of the profits.[11] As a result of the finding of copyright violation, however, the film has remained largely unavailable save for some bootlegged copies.[12]

In 1947, United Artists released the film Dishonored Lady, starring Hedy Lamarr and directed by Robert Stevenson, based on the play by Sheldon and Ayer Barnes.

The 1930 copyright to the play expired in 2025, resolving the ownership dispute.[13] The 1932 film would itself expire copyright in 2027.Spurred by Crawford's grandson,[13] the Warner Archive Collection, which presently owns the film, began efforts to market the film again. On April 8, 2026, it was announced that a new 4K restoration of Letty Lynton, completed by Warner Bros., would premiere at the TCM Classic Film Festival in Los Angeles on May 1.[14][15]