The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld a 2013 lower court ruling holding that 46 Sherlock Holmes stories and four novels created by Arthur Conan Doyle before 1923, along with the signature characters in those books such as Holmes and Dr. Watson, are in the public domain. The original suit by Leslie Klinger sought clarification after the Conan Doyle Estate demanded (and received) $5000 in licensing fees for an anthology of new fiction featuring Sherlock Holmes published by Random House, then demanded additional fees for a follow-up anthology slated for publication by Pegasus. Klinger won that suit last December, after which […]
