Public domain in the US, the EU and the UK

The Wonderful Wizard of OzL. Frank Baum, 1900

Baum's 1900 book is free to adapt. The ruby slippers, the green-skinned witch and the songs come from the 1939 film, and Wicked is its own protected work.

First published
1900
Author died
1919
Original language
English
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Copyright status

Copyright ends at different dates in different countries. Here is where this work stands in the three places most readers release in.
WhereStatus
United StatesPublic domain. First published in 1900, before 1931: the 95-year US term for works of that age has run out.
European Union and United KingdomPublic domain since 1 January 1990. L. Frank Baum died in 1919, and the term is 70 years after the end of the year of death.
Other countriesMost countries protect a work for 50 to 100 years after its author's death, and some have transition rules. If you release or sell in a specific country, check its law.

Status checked on October 26, 2026 against the sources listed in our legal guide.

A cyclone carries Dorothy and her dog Toto from Kansas to the Land of Oz, where her house falls on the Wicked Witch of the East. Wearing the dead witch's silver shoes, she follows the yellow brick road to the Emerald City with a Scarecrow who wants a brain, a Tin Woodman who wants a heart and a Cowardly Lion who wants courage. The Wizard sends them to kill the Wicked Witch of the West, and when Dorothy melts her with a bucket of water, the Wizard turns out to be a humbug from Omaha.

Free to use

  • The 1900 book: Dorothy, Toto, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodman, the Cowardly Lion, the Wizard, Glinda, the Winged Monkeys, the yellow brick road and the Emerald City.
  • Baum's own details: the silver shoes, the green spectacles everyone must wear in the Emerald City, and a Wicked Witch of the West with one eye as powerful as a telescope.
  • W. W. Denslow's illustrations for the first edition (Denslow died in 1915).
  • The thirteen sequels Baum wrote himself, all published before 1931, and any new version you build from them.

Watch out for

  • The ruby slippers, the witch's green skin, the songs and the look of the characters come from MGM's 1939 film, which is still protected in the US until the end of 2034 and has trademarks around it.
  • Wicked (Gregory Maguire's 1995 novel, the 2003 musical and the films) is a separate protected work. The name Elphaba and everything Wicked invented belong to it.
  • Later Oz books by other authors, such as Ruth Plumly Thompson's, have their own dates. Check each one before you borrow from it.
  • AI models know the 1939 film very well. Write Baum's descriptions into your art direction and reject frames that turn the shoes red or the witch green.

The full rules, with the laws and court decisions behind them, are in our guide to adapting public domain works.

An adaptation idea

The Wizard's side of the story: a stranded balloonist from Omaha bluffs his way into ruling a country and has to keep the trick going.

Format: A feature, or a six-episode series that follows the four travellers and the Wizard in parallel.

Adapt it in ScreenWeaver

These are the steps as they run in ScreenWeaver today. You read and edit every step, and you start every generation yourself, in the app.

  1. 1Get the 1900 text from Standard Ebooks or Project Gutenberg (links below) and save it as a PDF with a text layer. ScreenWeaver reads the text layer for free, up to 300 pages per file.
  2. 2Create a film or series project and attach the PDF. Ask the assistant for the characters, places and objects, and describe the silver shoes and the one-eyed witch in their story elements.
  3. 3Write your art direction from Baum and Denslow: grey Kansas prairie, the blue country of the Munchkins, the green city seen through green glasses. Add a style image of your own.
  4. 4Ask for the scenes, then the shots of each scene, and cite each traveller in every shot they appear in so they stay the same.
  5. 5Generate the frames in Storyboard, then the clips in Production.

How a whole book becomes scenes and shots: novel to storyboard.

Original texts

Where to get The Wonderful Wizard of Oz from a legal source

Questions

Is The Wizard of Oz public domain?
The book is. L. Frank Baum published it in 1900 and died in 1919, so it is free in the US, the EU and the UK. The 1939 MGM film is a separate work and is still protected in the US.
Can Dorothy wear ruby slippers?
Avoid it. In the book the shoes are silver; the ruby slippers were created for the 1939 film. Silver shoes are both safer and truer to the source.
Can I use Elphaba from Wicked?
No. The name Elphaba and the story Wicked tells were invented by Gregory Maguire and the musical. Baum's witch has no name: give yours one of your own.

General information, not legal advice. Copyright, trademark and personality rights depend on the country and on the facts of each project. For a commercial release, have a lawyer check your chain of rights.

Other works to adapt

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Import The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, build the cast and the places, write the scenes and cut them into shots. The Screenwriter plan is free.
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