From macgyvershe:
Didn’t Sherlock Holmes just become public domain? Maybe it isn’t (wasn’t) the BBC but the fact that it wasn’t public domain yet that kept the no ‘gay’ relationship with major international Literary characters as their ‘public’ face for their scripts. Maybe now that isn’t as much of a problem?? Just a thought. >:D Star
Macgivershe is referring to this case:
If you don’t want to read the link, then the basic rundown is that US copyright currently draws the line of public domain—the point at which a creative work is free of copyright and available for unrestricted public use—at 1923. The last run of Sherlock Holmes stories was published after 1923, thus rendering the line blurry. Can Holmes be considered a ‘complete character’ as of 1923 (in which case he is a ‘completed work’ as of 1923 and public domain), or must we consider him a ‘character in development’ until the last volume of his stories was published (in which case the ‘completed work’ cannot be said to be in public domain and thus copyright still belongs to the Doyle estate)?
A US federal judge this fall ruled Holmes to be in the public domain. However, some points about the decision are:
1: The Doyle Estate is considering appeal, so the issue is not necessarily done and dusted.
2: As this is a US Court decision, it can only determine the copyright status of the Sherlock Holmes stories in US copyright. UK copyright may have different ideas.
So for purposes of the BBC’s Sherlock, the ruling is irrelevant in any case.
As I understand it, however, the question is equally murky under UK law. To date, almost everyone wishing to work with Sherlock Holmes as a character has hedged their bets by seeking approval from the Doyle Estate before embarking on their project. As far as I know, the Doyle Estate has largely been permissive on the issue, but I have heard stories about them throwing their weight around on unapproved Holmes projects (including fan websites) and using legal threats to get them shut down, and has not historically approved of queer interpretations of Holmes (which is pretty funny, since Doyle himself didn’t give a damn what anybody did with that character).
So in the show’s case, the ‘no homo’ thing could be Moffat (he refers to queer relationships in his work a lot, but never actually shows one, and the collective jury remains out on whether he’s an idiot, an asshole, or dancing on the industry line), could be the BBC (they were fine with Torchwood, but media companies…eh), could be the Doyle Estate, which has threatened to revoke approval of Ritchie’s films if he makes Holmes any gayer than he already is in those movies.