Author seeks Sherlock Holmes copyright removal
A US author has asked a court to wipe any existing copyright protection over fictional crime detective Sherlock Holmes, 83 years after his creator’s death.
In a suit filed at the US District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, Leslie Klinger argues that Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s claims over various characters and elements of the story should be made freely available.
British author Conan Doyle first wrote about Holmes in 1887 and died in 1930. Most of his work is already in the public domain but, in 1981, his last surviving child renewed the copyright on 12 of his stories.
Klinger says two of the stories are already publicly available and the remaining 10 will enter the public domain “in various years leading up to 2023". But he says because important elements of the story, including Holmes' character name and birthplace, were developed before they appeared in the remaining 10 stories, they should no longer be protected.
The copyright on all 12 stories has expired in other countries including the UK and Canada.
Two separate disagreements about licensing deals triggered the lawsuit. In June 2011, Conan Doyle’s estate asked Klinger, co-author Laurie King (not named in the suit) and publisher Random House to pay royalties for producing A Study in Sherlock, a collection of stories about Holmes. They initially refused, disputing the copyright, before Random House agreed to license the book in August 2011.
Separately, in late 2011, publishing house Pegasus agreed to produce a sequel, In the Company of Sherlock Holmes, for the authors. Before the agreement was signed, the Conan Doyle estate again contacted the parties to demand a licence fee. Pegasus refused but said it wanted a lawsuit to resolve the case before publishing the book.
Klinger is therefore asking the court to make a declaratory judgment, which clarifies the law in a particular dispute.
Jenevieve Maerker, associate at Foley Hoag LLP, said the case highlights the complexity of US copyright law, which was overhauled in 1978.
Before 1978, copyright protection extended for 28 years after the creation of a work and it could be further renewed by varying amounts, as it was in this case, in 1981. The system then changed so that rights lasted for 70 years after an author’s death (in most cases), bringing laws more into line with those in countries such as the UK.
Maerker said Klinger appears to have a strong case, particularly if important aspects of the story were published before 1923. “If the plaintiff wins, it will make it much harder for the estate to assert its claims on other elements of the story, even if they are not included on the list,” she said.
Jonathan Kirsch, who is representing Klinger, said: “Klinger is acting on behalf of writers, artists and creators who want to be able to draw on these iconic features of Western culture.”
The Conan Doyle estate did not respond to a request for comment.
