Is Kansas City Confidential (1952) public domain?
The copyright record for this film, written out in full so you can check it.
Public domain in the United States
What is usually said
Public domain, never renewed.
The finding, and the working behind it
Public domain in the United States: registered LP2125 in 1952 and absent from a “Confidential” cycle that was renewed almost in full.
Two searches, 72 records read, no renewal. Sixty renewal registrations in the motion picture class match “confidential” — Chicago Confidential, Hong Kong Confidential, New York Confidential, High School Confidential, College Confidential, Confidentially Connie. The 1950s Confidential cycle was renewed almost in full, and this title is not among them.
Twelve renewal registrations match “kansas”, including Kansas Territory (RE0000051564, renewed 4 February 1980 by Allied Artists, renewing LP0000001669 from April 1952). A 1952 registration renewed right inside the window confirms the window is covered. The UK reissue title, The Secret Four, returns nothing relevant either.
The register, as it stands
- Original registration
- LP2125, (C) Associated Players and Producers, 11 November 1952
- Production
- An Edward Small production released through United Artists, directed by Phil Karlson
- Renewal fell due
- 1979–1980, well inside the online catalog
- Renewal found
- none, across 72 records read
- Searched
- 2026-09-01
The register says free, and somebody has been papering the chain of title
The online catalog holds 104 records matching this title, and almost all of them are recordation documents — assignments and security agreements filed continuously from 1982 through 2006. None carries a registration number, which is consistent with a film nobody holds a registration in.
It is the same profile as Teenagers from Outer Space: the record says free, and a distributor may still send a letter. Being right is not the same as being left alone, and anyone relying on this record should know that before they publish.
How to check this yourself
Everything above is drawn from public records. None of it requires our word:
- The Catalog of Copyright Entries, the Copyright Office’s printed registration and renewal volumes, scanned and searchable at the Internet Archive and at the Online Books Page. Registration numbers beginning LP or MP are film entries.
- The Copyright Office online records at copyright.gov, which are complete from 1978 and therefore decisive for any renewal that fell due from then on.
- The NFPF Field Guide to Sponsored Films, for the industrial and educational titles, which records copyright status entry by entry.
Where these numbers came from
- Copyright Office public catalog, motion picture renewal class searched for “confidential” (60 records) and “kansas” (12 records).
- Copyright Office public catalog, the 104 recordation documents filed against this title.
What this does and does not mean
This is a finding about United States copyright, made in good faith from the public record. Copyright terms differ by country, and a film in the public domain here may still be protected elsewhere.
A negative search proves that no record was found, which is not identical to proving that no record exists. The Copyright Office says as much about its own catalogs. Where a search could not be decisive we say so above rather than rounding it up to certainty.
This is a record of research and not legal advice. If you hold a right in this film, or you think we have read the record wrong, write to mike@tapeterritory.com with what we missed and we will correct it here.
Why we did this research
Establishing what may be published is the first step before restoring a film and writing an audio description for it. That is what this site is for, and we do the same work on commission — audio description and captioning, with published rates.