Sherlock Holmes is in the public domain

More than 125 years later, after the publication of the first stories about the famous detective Sherlock Holmes and his assistant, Dr. Watson, these works were finally transferred to the public domain in the United States. Now anyone can freely make films about Sherlock without paying royalties to the heirs of Arthur Conan Doyle. You can freely publish books and use images of Sherlock Holmes, Dr. Watson and other characters in any way you like.

50 original Sherlock Holmes stories, published from 1887 to 1923, remained under the protection of copyright due to the peculiarities of the American copyright law - due to the fact that in subsequent years the continuation of these stories was published, so the characters' images were allegedly “complemented” before the release of the last story in 1927. Now the judge of the northern district of Illinois Ruben Castillo (Ruben Castillo) put an end to this issue and released these works .

Copyright now covers only 10 stories that were published after January 1, 1923, images and stories that first appeared there, such as Dr. Watson’s second wife or his game for the Blackheath rugby team. The remaining 50 stories, published before January 1, 1923, are now "free and free for public use," including the images of Holmes, Watson, Professor Moriarty and 221B address on Baker Street.
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Fans of the famous detective celebrate the victory on the site “Freedom to Sherlock!” . “Sherlock Holmes belongs to the world,” says writer Leslie Klinger (Leslie S. Klinger), who filed a lawsuit. “The court’s decision clearly indicates this.” Even if the famous hero is dressed in modern clothes (as in the TV series "Sherlock" on the BBC or "Elementary" on CBS-TV), they completely remake the image, like in the films "Sherlock Holmes" by the Warner Bros. studio, or create completely new stories under the inspiration image of the great detective (for example, the series "Doctor House"). In any case, you can now create new works without the threat of Conan Doyle's heirs, namely the organization Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. which represents their interests and closely monitors the collection of royalties worldwide. For example, the same writer Leslie Klinger paid $ 5,000 for the publication of a collection of short stories on Sherlock Holmes, for example, about the adventures of Mary Russell, his mythical wife. The studio also paid license fees to Conan Doyle Estate Ltd. for filming the films listed above.

Recently, the characters Conan Doyle became very popular, judging by the number of new films and TV shows about them. Probably, now works about Holmes and Watson will be even more.