List of Warner Bros. cartoons that are currently in the public domain in the United States

This is a list of Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical shorts that have now fallen into the public domain in the United States due to copyright neglect. Please keep in mind that said shorts can still be copyrighted in other countries. The earliest currently copyrighted Warner Bros. cartoon, "Ride Him, Bosko!", is set to enter the public domain in 2028.

As a result of this, these cartoons are free to distribute on VHS, DVD, and websites such as YouTube. Third parties can sell the videos with no legal penalties as a result of these public domain cartoons due to Warner Bros. either forgetting to renew or having no interest in renewing the copyrights to the cartoons.

Many Warner Bros. cartoons that credit Leon Schlesinger have fallen into the public domain. All cartoons released in 1934 still remain under copyright, though they are all set to lapse into the public domain in 2030. All post-1943 shorts still remain copyright, while all cartoons released in 1930 and 1931 are currently in the public domain. All black-and-white Looney Tunes shorts released after "Porky's Snooze Reel" are also currently in the public domain.

A number of cartoons are often commonly confused as public domain works and as such, were often included on unauthorized VHS's and DVD's, uploaded on websites such as YouTube, and were often reissued and retitled by black market cartoon distributors for TV, though are currently still under copyright (in the United States). These cartoons include "Bosko's Woodland Daze", "I Like Mountain Music", "We're in the Money", "Country Boy", "The Lady in Red", "Porky's Hired Hand", "Hollywood Steps Out", "The Unruly Hare", "Crowing Pains", "The Goofy Gophers", "The Lion's Busy", "Gift Wrapped", and "Lumber Jerks", among others. At least three shorts - "Flop Goes the Weasel", "Fin 'n' Catty", and "An Itch in Time" - appear to have entered the public domain initially, but have a "Blue Ribbon" reissue that was renewed under separate copyright. Additionally, the redrawn colorized versions of the public domain cartoons are also commonly confused to have lapsed in the public domain, but they are still under copyright (in the United States), having their copyrights renewed in 1994.

List of cartoons

Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies

1. "Bosko the Talk-Ink Kid" (1929)
2.  "Sinkin' in the Bathtub" (1930)
3.  "Congo Jazz" (1930)
4.  "Hold Anything" (1930)
5.  "The Booze Hangs High" (1930)
6.  "Box Car Blues" (1930)
7.  "Big Man from the North" (1930)
8.  "Ain't Nature Grand!" (1930)
9.  "Ups 'n Downs" (1931)
10.  "Dumb Patrol" (1931)
11.  "Yodeling Yokels" (1931)
12.  "Bosko's Holiday" (1931)
13.  "The Tree's Knees" (1931)
14.  "Lady, Play Your Mandolin!" (1931)
15.  "Smile, Darn Ya, Smile!" (1931)
16.  "Bosko Shipwrecked!" (1931)
17.  "One More Time" (1931)
18.  "Bosko the Doughboy" (1931)
19.  "You Don't Know What You're Doin'!" (1931)
20.  "Bosko's Soda Fountain" (1931)
21.  "Hittin' the Trail for Hallelujah Land" (1931)
22.  "Bosko's Fox Hunt" (1931)
23.  "Red-Headed Baby" (1931)
24.  "Bosko at the Zoo" (1931)
25.  "Pagan Moon" (1932)
26.  "Battling Bosko" (1932)
27.  "Freddy the Freshman" (1932)
28.  "Big-Hearted Bosko" (1932)
29.  "Crosby, Columbo, and Vallee" (1932)
30.  "Bosko's Party" (1932)
31.  "Goopy Geer"
32.  "Bosko and Bruno" (1932)
33.  "It's Got Me Again!" (1932) 
34.  "Moonlight for Two" (1932)
35.  "Bosko's Dog Race" (1932)
36.  "The Queen Was in the Parlor" (1932)
37.  "Bosko at the Beach" (1932)
38.  "I Love a Parade" (1932)
39.  "Bosko's Store" (1932)
40.  "Bosko the Lumberjack" (1932)
41.  "You're Too Careless with Your Kisses!" (1932)
42.  "I Wish I Had Wings" (1932)
43.  "A Great Big Bunch of You" (1932)
44.  "Bosko's Dizzy Date" (1932) ("Bosko and Honey" version; original short is still under copyright)
45.  "Three's a Crowd" (1932)
46.  "The Shanty Where Santy Claus Lives" (1933)
47.  "Hollywood Capers" (1935)
48.  "Boom Boom" (1936)
49.  "Westward Whoa" (1936)
50.  "Porky's Railroad" (1937)
51.  "Get Rich Quick Porky" (1937)
52.  "Porky's Garden" (1937)
53.  "I Wanna Be a Sailor" (1937) 
54.  "Jungle Jitters" (1938)
55.  "Have You Got Any Castles?" (1938) 
56.  "Hamateur Night" (1939)
57.  "Robin Hood Makes Good" (1939) 
58.  "Gold Rush Daze" (1939)
59.  "A Day at the Zoo" (1939) 
60.  "Prest-O Change-O" (1939) 
61.  "Bars and Stripes Forever" (1939)
62.  "Daffy Duck and the Dinosaur" (1939)
63.  "The Early Worm Gets the Bird" (1940) 
64.  "Ali-Baba Bound" (1940)
65.  "The Timid Toreador" (1940)
66.  "The Haunted Mouse" (1941)
67.  "Joe Glow, the Firefly" (1941)
68.  "Porky's Bear Facts" (1941)
69.  "Porky's Preview" (1941)
70.  "Porky's Ant" (1941)
71.  "Farm Frolics" (1941) 
72.  "A Coy Decoy" (1941)
73.  "Porky's Prize Pony" (1941)
74.  "Meet John Doughboy" (1941)
75.  "We, the Animals - Squeak!" (1941)
76.  "Sport Chumpions" (1941)
77.  "The Henpecked Duck" (1941)
78.  "All This and Rabbit Stew" (1941)
79.  "Notes to You" (1941)
80.  "Robinson Crusoe Jr." (1941)
81.  "Rookie Revue" (1941)
82.  "Porky's Midnight Matinee" (1941)
83.  "Porky's Pooch" (1941)
84.  "Porky's Pastry Pirates" (1942)
85.  "Who's Who in the Zoo" (1942)
86.  "Porky's Cafe" (1942)
87.  "The Wabbit Who Came to Supper" (1942)
88.  "Saps in Chaps" (1942)
89.  "Daffy's Southern Exposure" (1942)
90.  "The Wacky Wabbit" (1942)
91.  "Nutty News" (1942)
92.  "Hobby Horse-Laffs" (1942)
93.  "Gopher Goofy" (1942)
94.  "Wacky Blackout" (1942)
95.  "Foney Fables" (1942)
96.  "The Ducktators" (1942)
97.  "Eatin' on the Cuff or The Moth Who Came to Dinner" (1942)
98.  "Fresh Hare" (1942)
99.  "The Impatient Patient" (1942)
100.  "Fox Pop" (1942) 
101.  "The Dover Boys at Pimento University or The Rivals of Roquefort Hall" (1942)
102.  "The Sheepish Wolf" (1942) 
103.  "The Daffy Duckaroo" (1942)
104.  "A Tale of Two Kitties" (1942) 
105.  "Ding Dog Daddy" (1942)
106.  "Case of the Missing Hare" (1942)
107.  "Confusions of a Nutzy Spy" (1943)
108.  "Pigs in a Polka" (1943)  
109.  "To Duck .... or Not to Duck" (1943)
110.  "The Fifth-Column Mouse" (1943) 
111.  "Hop and Go" (1943)
112.  "Tokio Jokio" (1943)
113.  "Yankee Doodle Daffy" (1943)
114.  "Wackiki Wabbit" (1943)
115.  "Porky Pig's Feat" (1943)
116.  "Scrap Happy Daffy" (1943)
117.  "A Corny Concerto" (1943)
118.  "Falling Hare" (1943)
119.  "Inki and the Minah Bird" (1943) 
120.  "Daffy - The Commando" (1943)
121.  "Puss n' Booty" (1943)

Private Snafu shorts

Because they were made for the U.S. (United States) Army, all Private Snafu cartoons are in the public domain.

1. 1943 "Coming!! Snafu" (Jones/June/5:3s)
2. 1943 "Gripes" (Freleng/July/5:3s)
3. 1943 "Spies" (Jones/Aug/3:4s)
4. 1943 "The Goldbrick" (Tashlin/Sep/4:2s)
5. 1943 "The Infantry Blues" (Jones/Sep)
6. 1943 "Fighting Tools" (Clampett/Oct)
7. 1943 "The Home Front" (Tashlin/Nov/4:2s)
8. 1943 "Rumors" (Freleng/Dec/3:4s)
9. 1944 "Booby Traps" (Clampett/Jan)
10. 1944 "Snafuperman" (Freleng/Mar/3:4s)
11. 1944 "Private Snafu vs. Malaria Mike" (Jones/Mar)
12. 1944 "A Lecture on Camouflage" (Jones/Apr)
13. 1944 "Gas" (Jones/May)
14. 1944 "The Chow Hound" (Tashlin/June)
15. 1944 "Censored" (Tashlin/July/4:2s)
16. 1944 "Outpost" (Jones/Aug)
17. 1944 "Payday" (Freleng/Sep)
18. 1944 "Three Brothers" (Freleng/Sept)
19. 1944 "Target Snafu" (Freleng/Oct)
20. 1945 "In the Aleutians – Isles of Enchantment" (Jones/Feb)
21. 1945 "It's Murder She Says" (Jones/Feb)
22. 1945 "Hot Spot" (Freleng/July)
23. 1945 "Operation Snafu" (Freleng/Oct)
24. 1945 "No Buddy Atoll" (Jones/never released)
25. 1945 "Going Home" (Jones/never released)

Mr. Hook shorts

Because they were made for the U.S. Navy, all Mr. Hook cartoons are in the public domain.

• 1945 "The Return of Mr. Hook" (1945/McKimson/5:3s)
• 1945 "The Good Egg" (1945/Jones/5:3s)
• 1945 "Tokyo Woes" (1945/Clampett/5:3s)

Miscellaneous

Because these shorts were produced for the U.S. government, none of them have copyrights, and have always been in the public domain in the United States.

1. "Any Bonds Today?" (1942)
2. "Point Rationing of Foods" (1943)
3. "So Much for So Little" (1949)
4. "A Hitch in Time" (1955)
5. "90 Day Wondering" (1956)
6. "Drafty, Isn't It?" (1957)

Further Reading

• Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain Volume 1, 1894-1939, by Walter E. Hurst and Dr. Richard Baer (1994),ISBN 0913616265
• Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain Volume 2, 1940-1949, by Walter E. Hurst and Dr. Richard Baer (1992),ISBN 0913616273
• Film Superlist: Motion Pictures in the U.S. Public Domain Volume 3, 1894-1939, by Walter E. Hurst and Dr. Richard Baer (1980),ISBN 0911370730

External Links

• Looney Tunes in the Public Domain at the Wayback Machine (archived 26 March 2016)