Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain.

Aspiring Mogul · Dec 28, 2013

The estate of the late Arthur Conan Doyle claimed that, since a few of the stories remain protected, ALL of the Sherlock Holmes property is protected, but the judge said otherwise, and rightly so.

That should have been elementary, my dear Watson.

mlesemann · Dec 28, 2013

I've always loved the material, so I was interested to see that also.
The caveat is that you can't include any elements that were introduced after 1923.

Zensteve · Dec 28, 2013

HP Lovecraft goes back & forth like this, too. Crazy. Just keep the copyright laws simple, folks!

.

rayw · Dec 28, 2013

Seems the first ever SH story published was in Nov 1887.
http://www.angelfire.com/ks/landzastanza/publication.html

Anyone interested in a "challenge" to make our own individual SH short films for a dedicated youtube channel celebrating the source material's public domain status?

Deadline: Late October 2014 for debut in NOV.

Might consider making the preliminary deadline earlier, say August or September, to allow for pick-ups and reediting.

Just an idea.

rayw · Dec 29, 2013

December 2013: Ruling
http://freesherlock.files.wordpress.com/2013/12/klinger-order-on-motion-for-summary-judgment-c.pdf

http://free-sherlock.com/

http://www.nationaljournal.com/dome...k-holmes-is-now-in-the-public-domain-20131227
"... the federal judge ordered that Holmes, Watson, and any literary element written before 1923 can join the commons, free of licensing charges. "Where an author has used the same character in a series of works, some of which are in the public domain, the public is free to copy story elements from public domain works," the ruling states.

The Conan Doyle estate was worried that such a ruling would split the character, creating a copyrighted version, and one that's free to public interpretation. But, the judge explained, that's just how characters in the public consciousness evolve. Think of all the renditions of Frankenstein. Very, very few are like the original sympathetic monster that Mary Shelley created. So, if you want to write Sherlock Holmes, Vampire Hunter, go at it!

Some Holmes elements, however, are still under copyright because they were written after 1923. For instance, still protected are:

1. Dr. Watson's second wife.

2. Dr. Watson's background as an athlete.

3. Sherlock Holmes's retirement from his detective agency.

So that Holmes book you were drafting about Dr. Watson's recollections on his athlete days and how he met his second wife from the frame setting of Holmes's retirement community—you still need to pay the licensing fee."

Cracker Funk · Dec 29, 2013

Wow. That's pretty awesome.

Too bad his name is being ruined by a really crappy Hollywood series of movies. Thank goodness for the BBC series.

Aspiring Mogul · Dec 29, 2013

Superman and Mickey Mouse will apparently be public domain in a couple of decades. I'd be curious to see how these icons evolve.

photon · Dec 29, 2013

IIRC Batman is in the public domain.

ItDonnedOnMe · Dec 30, 2013

Aspiring Mogul said:
Superman and Mickey Mouse will apparently be public domain in a couple of decades. I'd be curious to see how these icons evolve.

Unlikely that Mickey Mouse will go public domain - the current length of copyright in the US is basically a result of Disney lobbying to get it extended each time 'Steamboat Willie' has approached the current limit. I have no doubt they'll keep pushing to extend it indefinitely.

rayw said:
Anyone interested in a "challenge" to make our own individual SH short films for a dedicated youtube channel celebrating the source material's public domain status?

I'd definitely be interested in this, been a fan of SH since I was a kid.

rayw · Dec 30, 2013

ItDonnedOnMe said:
I'd definitely be interested in this, been a fan of SH since I was a kid.

Cool.

Anyone else remotely interested?

I'm thinking of each piece being a short film, (about six minutes long is all I can tolerate) but something certainly less than a regular YT account limit of fifteen minutes.
I'd wanna strive for minimal cost, but that would be up to each writer/director/producer financing their contribution the way they see fit to realize their vision.
It'd be appropriate to do a fair bit of homework to both respect the material still under copyright protection and to provide some semblance of original content.
That said, I'm quite open to the idea of alternate timelines/histories, modern & future settings, gender changes, divergence from a strict adherence from the source material AKA fairly liberal interpretation of the source material.
Definitely screw around with genres!
Have an open discussion about development from story to screenplay to production to review. Let's see how sausage is made in a somewhat controlled environment.
Invite as many people possible to share in the madness.

I'm thinking pretty much - you gotta have a mystery being solved by Holmes & Doc Watson... and that's about as stringent as I would be 100% kosher with! :lol:

For all I care it could be Katie Holmes and Doc Emma Watson in space investigating the disappearance of dilithium crystals off the U.S.S. Enterprise - Gah! Can't do that!

Refrigerant off the ISS! Whew!

If enough content is created maybe see if Gravitas will toss a nickle our way. Probably won't, but maybe if we can only submit the greater than rubbish material... (Cribbing notes from http://www.indietalk.com/showthread.php?t=44510

)