Holmes sequel under threat from Doyle Estate
One of the trickiest subjects to talk about amongst the Holmesian community is homosexuality, particularly if it relates to either Sherlock Holmes or Dr Watson. People can be openly hostile regarding the mere suggestion of anything other than heterosexuals appear within the canon, I suspect this is largely due to the age of many Holmesians – they tend to be older and male. This, however, is taking the issue a step too far – I don’t care if you have been granted right to be executors of Doyle’s estate, you should not use that power as a platform for your own belief… and I think this is the case.
The executors of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary estate have threatened to withdraw Guy Ritchie’s rights to the Sherlock Holmes story if the director hints at a homosexual relationship between the lead characters in his sequel.
Robert Downey, Jr., who plays the supersleuth in Ritchie’s new movie adaption, recently appeared on David Letterman’s U.S. talk show and hinted at a homoerotic subtext in the relationship between his character and Jude Law’s Dr. Watson. During the interview the actor also asked the audience to decide whether Holmes is “a very butch homosexual.”
But Downey, Jr.’s comments have infuriated Andrea Plunket, who controls the remaining U.S. copyrights to the Holmes story, and she’s threatened to withdraw permission for a follow-up if Ritchie suggests the detective is more than just friends with his sidekick. She says, “I hope this is just an example of Mr Downey’s black sense of humour. It would be drastic, but I would withdraw permission for more films to be made if they feel that is a theme they wish to bring out in the future. I am not hostile to homosexuals, but I am to anyone who is not true to the spirit of the books.”
Andrea Plunket is a fake. Love Bug 54 shared this on the Holmes/Watson09 LJ:
Copyright in the Sherlock Holmes stories expired in Canada in 1980.
The last copyright on ACD’s work in the United Kingdom expired at the end of the year 2000.
In the United States, the only Sherlock Holmes remaining in copyright is The Case Book, which will enter the public domain between 2016 and 2023. A legal challenge that would have invalidated a 1998 extension to the length of copyright — putting Sherlock Holmes into the public domain immediately — was thrown out by the Supreme Court January 15, 2003.
The American copyrights are owned by the Estate of Dame Jean Conan Doyle. The American agent for administering them, and related rights in the Sherlock Holmes character, is Jon Lellenberg (Hazelbaker & Lellenberg, 211 East Delaware Place suite 605, Chicago, Illinois 60611), JonLellenberg@aol.com.
A recently created web site for “the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate” represents Andrea Plunket, the former wife of Sheldon Reynolds, producer of the 1954 television series starring Ronald Howard as Holmes. Reynolds controlled the copyrights in the 1950s. Plunket is proprietor of a guest house in Livingston Manor, New York. Her claims to rights in the Sherlock Holmes stories have been repeatedly rejected in U.S. federal court decisions (including Plunket v. Doyle, No. 99-11006, Southern District of New York, February 22, 2001; Pannonia Farms Inc. v. ReMax International and Jon Lellenberg, No. 01-1697, District of Columbia, March 21, 2005). She has also filed a claim to the name “Sherlock Holmes” as a United States trademark, and it too has been turned down.
So, yeah. She can be as hostile as she’d like, but she has no legal leg to stand on.
Lyrical Soul
4 January, 2010 at 8:39 am