Circumstantial Evidence

The film was released in 1935 by Chesterfield Motion Pictures Corp., an independent 'Poverty Row' studio. Under the Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a renewal filing with the US Copyright Office during the 28th year of their first copyright term to remain protected for a second term. If no renewal was filed, the work entered the public domain. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal registration for this title from 1935. While the original registration is recorded (LP5496, published May 1, 1935), the failure to renew in 1962 or 1963 caused the copyright to expire. Consequently, the film fell into the public domain in the United States at the end of its first 28-year term. Secondary industry authorities, including the 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain' by Hurst and Baer, confirm the lack of renewal for this production. The film is currently widely available through public domain distributors and archive collections without copyright challenge.