Public Domain Images - CowboyCopPoster

Description: Low-resolution image of poster for FBO feature The Cowboy Cop (1926) starring Tom Tyler.
Corporate author (original): Film Booking Offices of America Inc.
Source/descendant corporation: RKO Pictures LLC.

Contents

1 Public domain explanation
2 Fair use in Film Booking Offices of America
3 Licensing
4 Original upload log

Public domain explanation
The image was published as an advertisement in the U.S. in 1926. There is no evidence that copyright notice was originally filed on the image, as then required. For instance, this image evidently shows the entire poster and no copyright notice.
A search of copyright renewal records for 1953 and 1954 ([1], [2], [3], [4]) reveals the then corporate heir to the corporate author of the work--RKO General--renewed no copyrights to this poster or any collection of posters or any collection of material that might encompass this poster as would have been required to maintain copyright protection, if any.
There is no evidence that the corporate heir to the corporate authors of the work--RKO Pictures LLC--claims copyright on the image.
Fair use in Film Booking Offices of America
If any evidence is disclosed to indicate that this image might be under copyright, it is claimed by Wikipedia editor DCGeist to be used under fair use as:

it is a poster of a motion picture put out by a defunct movie studio;
it is of much lower resolution than the original (copies made from it will be of very inferior quality);
the image is only being used for informational purposes;
its inclusion adds significantly to the article because it illustrates the leading genre and one of the leading stars of the studio discussed in the article, as detailed in the article's text.