[narfstar]

Sherlock has been moved from public access due to possible pd issues in the UK thanks to jcolag for pointing this out.

[John C]

To clarify:  While "shortest term" almost always applies to foreign works, my understanding is that Doyle's works are still under copyright in the UK by one of those oddball retroactive extensions.  That could make the comics derived works under EU law, even though they're fully public domain in the United States.  Since this site is hosted and operated in the UK, though, it makes sense to defer to Serj, who should know the local landscape better and carries the risk of any foul-ups.

[Yoc]

Narf, please send Serj and Aussie a PM about this to be sure they are aware.
JC might have an opinion to share here as well.

Thanks,
-Yoc

[John C]

Not as much as you might imagine.  I don't keep up on cases, so I have no idea how friendly the Doyle estate is or if they still consider themselves owner of anything beyond the trademark, nor am I sufficiently well-versed in Doyle's work to say if the Charlton books are heavily derivative of anything still protected.

Sure, I'd guess not, since Charlton's licensed products (especially later) tended toward serious half-assedry (which I admittedly love), but that's such a shot in the dark that it's hardly a useful insight.

[narfstar]

Checking the indicia it is only copyright to Charlton so should be fine. Also they are all new baffling adventures so only the character is used. This should be a pretty easy ok for PD