IT’S ELEMENTARY: WHY WE NEED A NEW COPYRIGHT STANDARD, WITH STATUTORY GUIDANCE, FOR CHARACTERS IN A SERIES

Sherlock Holmes is, without a doubt, one of the most well- known and quoted characters of literary history, and has had a recent resurgence in contemporary entertainment. Since Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s first work featuring Sherlock Holmes and his partner John Watson, A Study in Scarlet, was published in 1887, the novel’s copyright term has since expired and the novel has been in the public domain for years. This means today’s authors and creators are free to incorporate any part of the first novel they would like to use in creating new works. So, does this public domain material include the entire character of Sherlock Holmes? Are authors today allowed to do what they want with Sherlock Holmes and adapt him to their creations? To many copyright academics and lawyers, the obvious answer is “yes.” However, the Conan Doyle Estate disagrees. In a recent lawsuit, the Conan Doyle Estate argued that the character of Holmes, and other key characters in the series, did not complete their character development until the end of the entire series; thus, as complex literary characters, the copyright on the entire character should not enter the public domain until the last work in which the character appeared has entered public domain. View More