OK so I decided to look into the ridiculous state of the ACD canon’s copyright again and because US copyright protects certain things up to 95 years (HOLY HELL), ten Holmes stories remain copyrighted in the US, the latest going up until 2022.
- “The Adventure of the Creeping Man” (1923)
- “The Adventure of the Sussex Vampire” (1924)
- “The Adventure of the Three Garridebs” (1924)
- “The Adventure of the Illustrious Client” (1924)
- “The Adventure of the Three Gables” (1926)
- “The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier” (1926)
- “The Adventure of the Lion’s Mane” (1926)
- “The Adventure of the Retired Colourman” (1926)
- “The Adventure of the Veiled Lodger” (1927)
- “The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place” (1927)
Just add 95 onto that publish year and you’ve got when the copyright expires. Add onto this that the Estate itself had at one point claimed that “if anything remained copyrighted, it was ALL copyrighted” (that was shot down by various courts, thank GOD); and had also sued an author for writing a book about Holmes’ retirement (adapted into the film “Mr. Holmes”) because he pulled details from these last 10 stories…we have what I think may be the Main Fear for localizing DGS.
I know two of these stories have details–even if only very small ones–referenced in DGS. “Three Garridebs” gets a mention via John and Joan’s surname in the first game, while “Veiled Lodger” gets a light nod via the blue bottle filled with poison meant for suicide in the second. The copyrights expire for those stories in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
I don’t know if there are other smaller references to the events in these stories, or even to Sherlock’s actions, in the game, but given how god damn persistent the Estate is….even if there’s a chance DGS could fly under the radar in the US, I wouldn’t be surprised if Capcom didn’t wanna risk that.
ACD Canon’s Copyright
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