Just before Christmas the matter of Sherlockian Leslie Klinger’s lawsuit against the Conan Doyle Estate to establish whether the character Sherlock Holmes was in the public domain, and that derivative works did not require licensing fees, was resolved, with Judge Ruben Castillo of Illinois federal court granting Klinger’s summary judgment motion for the most part. In his 22-page opinion, Castillo ruled that Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson, and any other character first introduced in the 46 Conan Doyle stories and four novels published before 1923 are in the public domain and free for use — but that story elements from 10 […]
