November 4, 2014 | Nate Pedersen

Supreme Court Refuses Appeal, 50 Sherlock Holmes Works Officially in Public Domain

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An ongoing copyright case closed on Monday after the US Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal about Sherlock Holmes stories in the public domain.  The Court left intact a ruling from the seventh US circuit court of appeals that 50 Sherlock Holmes stories published before 1923 are no longer protected by copyright.  An appeal to that ruling had been filed by the Arthur Conan Doyle Estate, but their last-ditch effort to preserve an undoubtedly generous stream of income was denied.  The Estate can, however, still collect royalties on the final 10 Holmes stories, which were published between 1923 and 1927 and remain protected by copyright.

All this hoopla began last year when writer and attorney Leslie Klinger put together an anthology of Sherlock Holmes stories from modern writers.  Klinger was asked by the Conan Doyle Estate to pay a $5,000 licensing fee, which he refused. Klinger then sued the estate and a legal battle ensued.

In the meantime Klinger's publisher, Pegasus Books, refused to publish the book after threats from the Conan Doyle Estate to stop sales from Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Presumably, the book - entitled "In the Company of Sherlock Holmes" - will now move forward with publication.

The case is Conan Doyle Estate v Klinger, US supreme court, No14-316.

[Image from Wikipedia]