Chicago Business Litigation Lawyer Blog
Everyone knows who Sherlock Holmes is. Even if you haven’t read one of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s short stories featuring the famous detective, you’ve no doubt seen, or at least heard of, one of the many adaptations of Holmes and his adventures into other works of fiction, from other books and short stories, to movies and TV shows. He is known as the cold, calculating detective who sees clues everywhere, but is either incapable of taking into consideration the feelings of the people around him, or just lacks the patience to do so.
That is the Sherlock Holmes of the public domain, but later stories written by Doyle show a softer side – someone who has become more considerate in general, and more respectful towards women in particular. That version of the detective is not yet in the public domain, which forms the basis of a copyright lawsuit against Netflix, Nancy Springer, and Random House, among others.
The copyright lawsuit focused on Enola Holmes, a series of young adult books written by Springer, published by Random House, and adapted into a film starring Millie Bobby Brown that was released on Netflix in 2020. Enola is Sherlock’s younger sister and proves equally capable of solving mysteries. Both the books and the film portray a Sherlock (played by Henry Cavill in the film) who starts out dismissive of his younger sister, but gradually grows warmer towards her as she grows on him, and it is those latter characteristics that prompted the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to file their copyright lawsuit. Continue reading ›