The Wizard of Oz

The Wizard of Oz was originally registered for copyright by Loew's Incorporated (the parent company of MGM) on August 15, 1939, under registration number LP9079. Because this film was released during the 1928–1963 era, US law required a manual renewal during the 28th year of the original term to maintain copyright protection. Research in the Stanford Copyright Renewal Database and the Catalog of Copyright Entries (CCE) confirms that the copyright was successfully renewed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. on November 15, 1966, under renewal number R397660. Under the Copyright Term Extension Act of 1998, this renewal extended the protection to a total of 95 years from the original publication date. Consequently, the film will not enter the public domain in the United States until January 1, 2035. The film is currently owned by Warner Bros. (via their acquisition of Turner Entertainment, which had previously purchased the MGM library). It is actively commercially exploited through high-definition restorations, streaming on Max, and extensive licensing, confirming it is not an orphan work. Note: generated without live web grounding (the grounded research engine was unavailable). Verify the cited sources independently before relying on this determination.