A number of film production experts have commented on the staus of publicity stills, cofirming that they are in the public domain. Eve Light Honthaner, in The Complete Film Production Handbook (Focal Press, 2001 p. 211.), says:
"Publicity photos have traditionally not been copyrighted. Since they are disseminated to the public, they are generally considered public domain, and therefore clearance by the studio that produced them is not necessary."
Film industry author Gerald Mast, in Film Study and the Copyright Law (1989) p. 87, writes:
"According to the old copyright act, such production stills were not automatically copyrighted as part of the film and required separate copyrights as photographic stills. The new copyright act similarly excludes the production still from automatic copyright but gives the film's copyright owner a five-year period in which to copyright the stills. Most studios have never bothered to copyright these stills because they were happy to see them pass into the public domain, to be used by as many people in as many publications as possible."
Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
Este archivo se encuentra en el dominio público en los Estados Unidos porque fue publicado en ese país entre los años 1929 y 1963, y, teniendo un aviso de derechos de autor, no se renovó su protección. A menos que su autor haya fallecido años antes, se mantiene bajo propiedad intelectual en los países o zonas que no aplican la regla del plazo más corto para las obras estadounidenses, como China continental (50 años p.m.a., a excepción de Hong Kong o Macao), Alemania (70), Canadá (70), Suiza (70), México (100) y otros países con reglas particulares. Vea Commons:Hirtle chart como referencia e información.
{{Information |Description=Greta Garbo and Robert Taylor in a publicity still for ''Camille'' |Source=[http://garboforever.com/Bilder/Film-Pic/Camille/Camille-075.jpg] |Date=1936 |Author=Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (work for hire) |Permission= A number of film pr