Sherlock Holmes can’t have a sister protest Arthur Conan Doyle’s dependents

Even Professor Moriarty would not have imagined such a Machiavellian plan. A few days before Netflix releases the first images of the film Enola Holmes, the successors in title of Arthur Conan Doyle have decided to file a complaint for violation of copyright and registered trademarks. Before the federal court of New Mexico, The Conan Doyle Estate not only attacks the streaming giant but also the production studio Legendary Pictures, the publishing house Penguin Random House and even Nancy Springer, the author novels Enola Holmes’ Investigations, which inspire the script of the film.

At the heart of litigation, the feelings of the most famous private detective in English history. In the complaint to the court, the beneficiaries tell how the character has evolved over time and with its author. “During the First World War, Conan Doyle lost his eldest son, Arthur Alleyne Kingsley, is it written in the complaint. Four months later, he lost his brother, Brigadier-General Innes Doyle. When Conan Doyle returns to Holmes between 1923 and 1927, it is no longer enough for the character to be the most brilliant rational and analytical mind. Holmes had to be human. The character had to develop human bonds and empathy».

This development is the key to the estates procedure which argues that this more “human” version of Sherlock Holmes cannot be adapted without their authorization. Because only the adventures of the detective dating from before 1923 are free today. By creating a sister named Enola Holmes, the novelist Nancy Springer would be inspired by a more human Sherlock Holmes, therefore the one described by the novels still protected by copyright.

It is not the first time that rightful claimants have used these arguments to cash in on the detective’s latest adventures. In 2015, The Conan Doyle Estate sued Miramax for the film Mr. Holmes with Ian McKellen, who recounted the character’s retirement and final days. A case that ultimately went unheeded.

The exit ofEnola Holmes is scheduled on the Netflix platform in September, starring Millie Bobby Brown. Henry Cavill and Sam Claflin, in the respective roles of Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes, complete the cast.

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