"Sherlock Holmes" went into the public domain

More than 125 years after the publication of the first tales of the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant Dr. Watson, these works finally came into the public domain in the United States. Now anyone can freely make films about Sherlock without paying royalties to the heirs of Arthur Conan Doyle. You can freely publish books and use the images of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and other characters in any way you like.

50 original stories about Sherlock Holmes, published from 1887 to 1923, remained protected by copyright because of the peculiarities of American copyright law - because in subsequent years there was a continuation of these stories, so that the images of the characters were supposedly “supplemented” up to until the release of the last story in 1927. Now, the judge of the Northern District of Illinois Ruben Castillo (Ruben Castillo) put an end to this issue and freed these works .

Copyright now applies only to 10 stories that were published after January 1, 1923, to images and plots that first appeared there, such as Dr. Watson's second wife or his game for the Blackheath rugby team. The remaining 50 stories, published before January 1, 1923, are now “free and free to use publicly,” including images of Holmes, Watson, Professor Moriarty, and address 221B on Baker Street.

Fans of the famous detective celebrate victory on the site “Freedom to Sherlock!” . “Sherlock Holmes belongs to the world,” sayswriter Leslie S. Klinger, who filed a lawsuit. “The court decision clearly indicates this.” Even if the famous hero is dressed in modern clothes (as in the Sherlock series on the BBC or Elementary on CBS-TV), the image is completely redone, as in the Sherlock Holmes films of Warner Bros. studio, or they create completely new stories inspired by the image of a great detective (for example, the series “House MD”). In any case, now you can create new works without threat from the heirs of Conan Doyle, namely, the organization Conan Doyle Estate Ltd., which represents their interests and closely monitors the collection of royalties around the world. For example, the same writer Leslie Klinger paid $ 5,000 for publishing a storybook on Sherlock Holmes, for example, about the adventures of Mary Russell, his mythical wife. For shooting the above films, the studios also paid royalties from Conan Doyle Estate Ltd.

Recently, the characters of Conan Doyle have become very popular, judging by the number of new films and series about them. Probably, now there will be even more works about Holmes and Watson.