Public domain images are available to anyone and can generally be used for whatever purpose you like — even commercial use. Images may end up in the public domain for a number of reasons.

Last week, the 8th Circuit handed down a ruling saying that knickknack companies can’t use Warner Brothers’ copyrighted images on their merchandise even if they use public domain elements.

As a product of U.S. government employment, the images are in the public domain. Lange’s photographs of “migrant mother” Florence Owens Thompson and Washington farmer Chris Adolf, along with ...