Well, that buggers my plan to conquer the universe...

[ffutures]

One of the "if all else fails and I'm really desperate for an idea" ideas I've had in the back of my mind since Conan Doyle's Euro copyright finally expired is a "World of Sherlock Holmes" RPG. It'd be a sod to write, since actually playing the man would be next to impossible - player characters would have to be supporting cast, Scotland Yard bunglers, etc. - which is one of many reasons why I've never done it.

Good thing too, because I'm reliably informed that a surviving descendent of Conan Doyle has now obtained a European trademark on the words "Sherlock Holmes." Which should, of course, now be written Sherlock Holmes® or Sherlock Holmes^TM.

How they have avoided the "generic description" thing that stopped aspirin and cellophane from remaining trademarks is beyond me, because phrases like "it didn't take a Sherlock Holmes to realise..." aren't exactly uncommon.

What this does for the vast quantity of Holmes films, pastiches, fanfic, articles etc. etc. already extant is unclear; I suspect that sooner or later there will be several VERY lucrative (for the lawyers) lawsuits, since Hollywood etc. has a LOT of money tied up in films etc. Then there are things like the old Sherlock Holmes play, which I think was also out of copyright... but now the title itself and every use of the character's name infringes trademark.

What's clear is that any future material based on this character is going to have to jump through the trademark hoops, at least in Europe. But I suspect that it will simply be dropped, with authors etc. moving on to other projects or changing names sufficiently to protect themselves.

I wonder if I could trademark the words "Greedy Bastards"

Comments

[serpentstar.livejournal.com]

There's a mention in the archives of the Robert E Howard Inner Circle egroup of the Holmes trademark. From memory I believe that it was a TM in the US already, because this was a news item regarding a movie or plau based on one of the Holmes stories but not mentioning Holmes in the title. The owners of Sherlock Holmes (TM) sued the producers, but the judge ruled against SH (TM) on the grounds that Holmes wasn't mentioned in the title (though he was, of course, the protagonist) and the story it was based on was out of copyright.

This came up on the REH list in connection with Conan (TM), which is a very similar situation -- virtually all the REH Conan stories are public domain, but Conan Inc owns the character. As I understand it (and I am very definitely not a lawyer) one is far more likely to be able to produce a game, story, etc. based solely on out of copyright materials if one doesn't mention the character's name in the marketing, title, etc. So if you produced a Baker Street Irregulars game, and didn't give it a "Roleplaying in the world of Sherlock Holmes" subtitle or mention Holmes in the marketing, you'd be unlikely to be successfully sued.

Of course, were it I doing such a thing, I would either get expensive legal advice from a specialist IP lawyer or (much more likely) pay £150 or so to create a specific limited company to produce that product alone. In the latter case, if you were unfortunate enough to be successfully sued for TM infringement, at least you'd only lose that company rather than ending up bankrupt.

[ffutures.livejournal.com]

Thanks - that makes things a bit clearer. Just goes to show; I wouldn't have dreamed it could be a TM until this came up, it's a good thing I didn't write the game first. It's ALWAYS wise to check if you're writing anything based on someone else's work, however old.