publishing a Sherlock Holmes pastiche without breaking copyright law?

[missviolet]

Due to the excessive spamming of this entry, I am disabling comments.

Even though most of the Canon is in the public domain (except the Casebook), the characters of Holmes, Watson, et. al. are protected by copyright. At least, I think they are, but it's very hard to tell because the Web site that purports to be the Conan Doyle Literary Estate

Comments

[sucrelefey]

I know there are a lot of people that are hoping someone will play court chicken with Plunket and her copyright claim since she seems to have scammed her way into owning it. The question is do you want that to be you since even the movie studio$ are willing to kiss her ass on the copyright claim.

[missviolet]

Of course not, but I can't imagine why they'd go after me and let big names like Laurie King and Carole Nelson Douglas get away with it. They'd have a much more convincing case against authors who have earned tidy sums from Holmes pastiche than against someone who earned almost nothing. It would be easier to go after me, sure, but even if they did win a case, I have no money. They'd have to settle for a modest garnishing of my paycheck and maybe in 50 years time I'd have paid them off. Hardly seems worth the lawyer's fees.

Big movie studios have tons of money to pay people off, they are not so concerned with whether Plunket is right, just paying her off so she doesn't start a fuss later.

Based on everyone's comments, my conclusion is that it may not be legal to publish Holmes pastiche, but it's debatable, and the chances of being prosecuted for it are very slim.

[missviolet]

If you want a laugh, check out the Bradford Licensing's PDF about the potential for Holmes merchandise http://www.bradfordlicensing.com/sherlockpartners/SherlockHolmes2009.pdf
However it seems they are only handling his image and quotes for merchandise, not for books. It is hilarious to see renderings of Sherlock Holmes lingerie, wallets, and other bizarre uses.

[rubymiene]

Sorry I'm late to the conversation, but I wanted to make a few points

[missviolet]

Thanks for that very helpful information. I just found a call for submissions from Circlet Press for "Elementary Erotica," requesting sexually explicit stories about Sherlock Holmes. If they feel comfortable publishing such material, it's probably okay, as they must have a lawyer on the payroll to vet such projects.

[duskpeterson]

"they must have a lawyer on the payroll to vet such projects."

I wouldn't count on it. But you can check the backgrounds of the staff at Circlet's Website; they're all listed in the sidebar. Or you could simply drop them a line and ask them how they came to that decision. The publisher of Circlet Press is in fandom, so maybe she consulted places like this when making her decision. :)

I've nothing to contribute about the issue you're facing, but I wish you good luck, whatever you decide.

[missviolet]

Thank you. Circlet is going ahead with the Holmes erotica book. According to their blog: "thank you for your concern, but we HAVE spoken with multiple lawyers who specialize in copyright and transformative works." I have already submitted my story and am waiting to hear back from them. May end up being a non-issue for me - it's my first submission to a publisher so I would be pleasantly surprised if they end up buying it.

[chibitoaster]

As an artist, I have much more freedom as far as this is concerned - as long as the art is my own interpretation of the characters, it's fine.

But that's not what I meant to say. There have been cases of pastiche - and even slash - that have been published and distributed on Amazon. Just look up "My Dearest Holmes" and you'll find an exceptional one.

I think the general consensus is that as long as the story is your own, and you're not taking it to mass media and making $70m the first weekend, you're pretty much okay with writing your own adventures and selling them.

Of course, this is assuming there's a disclaimer in the front that says that the characters are all created by ACD. you can probably find some such disclaimer somewhere fairly easily.

[chibitoaster]

Thanks for the information. I am surprised this thread is still going strong after four months. My Dearest Holmes is a good example of a self-published Holmes pastiche - it was published with Amazon's own BookSurge. I haven't actually found an example of self-published Sherlock Holmes pastiche with pornographic content, which is what I was aiming to do. According to some people, derivative pornography is protected as "parody" although I have no idea why it'd be defined as such

[missviolet]

Whoops, that anonymous comment was me, the original poster.

[anonymous]

I recently came accross your blog and have been reading along. I thought I would leave my first comment. I dont know what to say except that I have enjoyed reading. Nice blog.