Article: Sherlock Holmes - PD ruling (US)

J_N · Post by **J_N** » December 29th, 2013, 1:32 am

Interesting article: http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/12/27/sherlock-holmes-is-in-the-public-domain-american-judge-rules/?_r=0 I didn't know the estate was making claims... that could have been a bit not good for LV, right?

Post by **annise** » December 29th, 2013, 1:45 am

We would always be OK becuase we only use his pre 1923 texts - I enjoy Laurie King's books where she uses the characters - other use them too , and I think that is what people were claiming copyright on - because he wasn't "fully developed" until Conan Doyle finished writimg about him.

Anne

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » December 29th, 2013, 3:40 am

It's an interesting situation: the copyright on actual characters, as opposed to the texts in which they appear. I believe the same applies to Fu Manchu - i.e. his character is still "owned" by the Rohmer estate, though I cannot (at least, quickly) find definitive information on it.

Ruth

Post by **annise** » December 29th, 2013, 3:57 am

What would Disney have done if "Cinderella" and "The Sleeping Beauty" etc etc were held by the Grimm and Andersen estates

?

RuthieG · Post by **RuthieG** » December 29th, 2013, 5:09 am

What would Disney have done if "Cinderella" and "The Sleeping Beauty" etc etc were held by the Grimm and Andersen estates ?

Got the copyright law changed, I imagine.

Ruth

English Andrew · Post by **English Andrew** » December 30th, 2013, 12:46 pm

In the UK, the country of the author, all of Doyle's Holmes stories are public domain, as they are in almost every other country. This means non-US citizens can record the post 1923 stories for legamus.eu, as RuthieG is currently doing with The Casebook of Sherlock Holmes.