Where do you stand if you want to use an famous character whose out of copyright?

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DAgent

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Classic example, let's say you have an idea for a Sherlock Holmes adventure. I'm not quite sure if the copyright on this has expired in all parts of the world, there were some legal issues when Star Trek The Next Generation did a Holmes story in season 2 in the holodeck for example. But say you wanted to use an existing famous character whose copyright has expired and the creator is long dead and buried, are you really allowed to do so? I'd be tempted to guess you'd need some permission from the estate of Conan Doyle in some regard.

I've an idea for a time travel piece where a modern day man is sent back to Victorian London and is shocked to discover Holmes and Watson are very real. Yes it could still work with a namealike parody of the pair, but that feels a bit lacking.
 
Conan Doyle died in 1930, and while the majority of his writing is in the public domain, 10 of his stories about the famous detective remain under copyright in the US. In the UK, where copyright lasts for 70 years after an author's death, all Holmes stories are out of copyright.
 
Well, the copyright issue is easy, just choose a character from before copyright law. But that's not really what you're asking. You are asking specifically about Holmes and Watson.

But I am not sure if Holmes and Watson are themselves copyrighted. The stories are, so you couldn't sell one and make money off it. But using those two characters? I don't see why not. I do believe a number of writers have used literary figures in their own work. I mean, the TV show Sherlock uses both, right?

Here's an article that touches on some of this.

www.bbc.com

When literary characters take on lives of their own

Some are so intriguing that writers are inspired to imagine their lives beyond the book – but is this a good thing? Hephzibah Anderson takes a look.
www.bbc.com www.bbc.com
 
Generally speaking, once a character is out of copyright, they’re public domain—free for anyone to use, regardless of what the creator’s descendants think.

In the specific case of Holmes and Watson, because some of the stories are still in US copyright, the Conan Doyle estate claims that any information about Holmes and Watson that comes from those some stories is a copyright violation, so anybody publishing right now has to be careful not to use anything that originates from those stories (which according to the Conan Doyle estate, includes Holmes being emotional, because the Conan Doyle estate is more interested in money than dignity).

On the other hand, the last Sherlock Holmes story will leave copyright at the start of next year, after which the Conan Doyle estate can’t sue anybody no matter how they use the character, even if they make him really emotional. So I’d say go ahead and write the piece: if it’s a book, you’ll probably be in the clear by the time it gets published (depending on how fast you write and find a publisher for it, of course); and if it’s a short story, just hold onto it for a bit before trying to publish it.
 
nixie said:
Conan Doyle died in 1930, and while the majority of his writing is in the public domain, 10 of his stories about the famous detective remain under copyright in the US. In the UK, where copyright lasts for 70 years after an author's death, all Holmes stories are out of copyright.
Click to expand...

Doyle has no living descendants who could renew the copyright?
 
Artoriarius said:
which according to the Conan Doyle estate, includes Holmes being emotional
Click to expand...
This does seem rather a stretch.
If one of these stories contains the first mention of his left leg, would that mean nobody can describe him as a biped until the copyright is finished?
Surely his capability of being emotional is inherent in the fact that he is human, despite his attempt to be simply cerebral.
 
Holmes has been revived or reinterpreted in a lot of novels (and TV & movies, of course), though they have never, in my opinion, worked as well as the original stories.

However, I'm not against the idea. The way George MacDonald Fraser brought Harry Flashman back to life from Thomas Hughes' Tom Brown's Schooldays in a series of novels in the 60s & 70s was magnificent.
 
I've read different books where they revisited Sherlock's character and I have to admit, sadly, that I've never found them as goos as the original work by Doyle: he created the character and no one will know him better.
But if you're able to bring back to life a character by doing a great job, than I'll be very impressed.
 
The issue I see with doing something like this with a famous character, is that if you do not hit it just right, you will be vilified.
 
There was an explosion of Holmes & Watson books starting around 1974. Fred Saberhagen was one those authors - see the Holmes Dracula File.
 
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