MGM did not copyright mark this ad. The then-existent copyright for Motion Picture News applied to the magazine's editorial content only. Advertisers wishing to copyright their ads needed to apply for copyright(s) for them.
"A notice for the collective work will not serve as the notice for advertisements inserted on behalf of persons other than the copyright owner of the collective work. These advertisements should each bear a separate notice in the name of the copyright owner of the advertisement."
United States Copyright Office page 2 "Visually Perceptible Copies The notice for visually perceptible copies should contain all three elements described below. They should appear together or in close proximity on the copies.
2 The year of first publication. If the work is a derivative work or a compilation incorporating previously published material, the year date of first publication of the derivative work or compilation is sufficient. Examples of derivative works are translations or dramatizations; an example of a compilation is an anthology. The year may be omitted when a pictorial, graphic, or sculptural work, with accompanying textual matter, if any, is reproduced in or on greeting cards, postcards, stationery, jewelry, dolls, toys, or useful articles.
Note that it may still be copyrighted in jurisdictions that do not apply the rule of the shorter term for US works (depending on the date of the author's death), such as Canada (50 p.m.a.), Mainland China (50 p.m.a., not Hong Kong or Macao), Germany (70 p.m.a.), Mexico (100 p.m.a.), Switzerland (70 p.m.a.), and other countries with individual treaties.
{{Information |Description=Photo of the Earle Theater building, Philadelphia, from a York Ice Machine ad in 1928. |Source=[https://archive.org/stream/motionnew38moti#page/n183/mode/2up Motion Picture News] |Date=[https://archive.org/stream/motionnew38moti#page/n183/mode/2up 1928] |Author=York Ice Machinery |Permission=Pre-1978 no mark |other_versions= }} *MGM did not copyright mark this ad. The then-existent copyright for Motion Picture News applied to the magazine's editorial content only....