City Girl

The film 'City Girl' was directed by F.W. Murnau and released by Fox Film Corporation in 1930. Under the US Copyright Act of 1909, works published between 1928 and 1963 required a copyright renewal filing during the 28th year of their first term to extend protection to a second term. For a 1930 release, the renewal window would have been in 1957 or 1958. A search of the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Library of Congress Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) reveals no renewal registration for this motion picture. While the film was originally registered under the title 'Our Daily Bread' (the working title), no renewal was filed for that title or the final release title 'City Girl' by Fox or any successor in interest. As a result of this failure to renew, the copyright expired at the end of its first 28-year term. The film is widely recognized as public domain by film historians and archival institutions. Its public domain status is further corroborated by 'Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain (1894-1939)' by D. Richard Baer, which lists the film as having lapsed into the public domain due to non-renewal.