Public Domain
Abilene Town
1946 · Guild Productions / United Artists · Dir. Edwin L. Marin
Marshall Dan Mitchell, who is the law in Abilene, has the job of keeping peace between two groups. For a long time, the town had been divided, with the cattlemen and cowboys having one end of town to themselves, while townspeople occupied the other end. Mitchell liked it this way, it made things easier for him, and kept problems from arising between the two factions. However…
Confidence
95
— Legal Reasoning —
Why this status applies
The film 'Abilene Town' was released in the United States on January 11, 1946. As a US-originating work published between 1928 and 1963, its copyright status depended on its registration and a subsequent renewal filing in its 28th year. The original copyright was registered to Guild Productions, Inc., on January 11, 1946, under registration number LP160.
According to the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE), no renewal was ever filed for this work in its 28th year window (which would have been 1973 or 1974). D. Richard Baer's 'Film Superlist' confirms that the title entered the public domain due to non-renewal. Consequently, the film fell into the public domain in 1974. Its widespread availability on public domain labels such as Alpha Video and its frequent appearance on Archive.org community collections without takedown notices further corroborate this status.
— Cited Sources —
Supporting facts
- Stanford Copyright Renewal Database (Checked 1973-1975)
- D. Richard Baer, Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain 1940-1949
- Library of Congress, Catalog of Copyright Entries, Motion Pictures 1912-1959
- AFI Catalog of Feature Films: Abilene Town (1946)
Research summary based on cited sources, not legal advice. Always consult a qualified copyright attorney before commercial use.