Are there Robin Hobb fans here? Cooking the Books interview, yonder: [link]
Oh my god. What can it be? We're all doomed! Who's flying this thing!? Oh right, that would be me. Back to work.
Wash ,'Bushwhacked'
Literary Buffistas 3: Don't Parse the Blurb, Dear.
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
hippocampus - Nov 04, 2014 3:57:28 am PST #22827 of 28343
not your mom's socks.
tommyrot - Nov 04, 2014 7:42:52 am PST #22828 of 28343
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
Elementary, my dear Watson: U.S. court rejects Sherlock Holmes dispute
(Reuters) - The case of the disputed Sherlock Holmes copyright is hereby closed after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact a ruling that said 50 works featuring the famed fictional detective are in the public domain.
The high court's justices, which like the eccentric detective get to decide which cases to tackle, declined to hear an appeal filed by the estate of author Arthur Conan Doyle, who died in 1930.
The proper response to this is "duh," but I haven't been able to find out what the estate of Doyle's argument was for saying it still deserves royalties for Doyle's works. (Actually they claimed writers using the characters owed them a "license fee.") Anyone know? Or was this just an attempt to get $ while hoping no one would take them to court?
Is this "license fee" crap for stuff in the public domain common?
Connie Neil - Nov 04, 2014 8:01:44 am PST #22829 of 28343
brillig
Considering the amount of money Sherlock Holmes generates, I don't blame the Doyle family for wanting some of it. I never though about who owned the character, but if he's public domain that explains all the recent shows.
Ginger - Nov 04, 2014 8:05:00 am PST #22830 of 28343
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
Edgar Rice Burroughs, Inc., has managed to keep its hot, sticky hands on Tarzan and John Carter since 1923, in part by trademarking the characters. You can trademark a character that is sufficiently distinctive.
Connie Neil - Nov 04, 2014 8:06:11 am PST #22831 of 28343
brillig
I'm surprised the Doyle estate didn't do that.
tommyrot - Nov 04, 2014 8:08:58 am PST #22832 of 28343
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
You can trademark a character that is sufficiently distinctive.
Ah. That explains it. So Sherlock Holmes isn't distinctive enough, I guess.
Connie Neil - Nov 04, 2014 8:23:19 am PST #22833 of 28343
brillig
So Sherlock Holmes isn't distinctive enough, I guess.
Well, not anymore. How many brilliant, eccentric, aggravating detectives with stolid, loyal sidekicks are out there? Oh, wait, all the ones that derived from Holmes and Watson. Maybe the Doyle estate just didn't think of it.
Ginger - Nov 04, 2014 8:39:02 am PST #22834 of 28343
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
I know that Burroughs was one of the first authors to incorporate, and ERB Inc.'s aggressive pursuit of any unauthorized use of Tarzan was unprecedented.
I doubt that Arthur Conan Doyle was particularly invested in having Sherlock Holmes be his legacy.
Connie Neil - Nov 04, 2014 8:47:03 am PST #22835 of 28343
brillig
Yeah, Doyle was sick of him--at least for a while. I don't remember if he brought Holmes back from the dead just to stop from being pestered or if the money got to him.
Burrell - Nov 04, 2014 9:47:33 am PST #22836 of 28343
Why did Darth Vader cross the road? To get to the Dark Side!
The case of the disputed Sherlock Holmes copyright is hereby closed after the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday left intact a ruling that said 50 works featuring the famed fictional detective are in the public domain.
Wow. I am pretty sure that my friend helped to write that ruling. I know he worked on that case. He must be stoked.