Dozens Of Iconic Media, Including Last ‘Sherlock Holmes’ Story Collection, Set To Hit The Public Domain In 2023

Daily Caller ^ | Jan 1, 2023 | By John Rigolizzo

[Red Badger]

A number of legendary media are about to enter the public domain in 2023, including the last remaining “Sherlock Holmes” mystery book.

According to the U.S. Copyright Office, copyrights on the vast majority of media items expire 70 years after the death of the original author. After that, the works enter the public domain and are available to be freely used by new creators. This year, a number of iconic media of all types are entering the public domain.

The most notable and controversial new work being added to the public domain is the short story collection “The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes,” the final set of Sherlock Holmes mysteries written by the legendary Scottish author and physician, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.

The collection was the center of a heated legal dispute between the author Leslie Klinger and the Conan Doyle estate, over Klinger’s story collection, “In the Company of Sherlock Holmes,” about associates of the character and story elements featured in the original works. The estate claimed that even though nearly all of Conan Doyle’s original stories were already in the public domain, Klinger could not publish his own story collection because the “Case-Book” was still copyrighted. But a federal judge in 2014 ruled against the estate.

A separate dispute leveled by the estate against the creators of the Netflix film “Enola Holmes” was settled in December 2020. The Doyle Estate leaned on the “Case-Book” stories in that case as well, arguing that a new portrayal of the detective famous for his powers of deduction, with more explicit emotions, infringed on their copyright. A federal judge ruled in favor of the estate in that case.

Besides Sherlock Holmes, a number of other iconic books are entering the public domain. They include:

Herbert Asbury’s 1927 novel “The Gangs of New York: An Informal History of the Underworld” which inspired the Oscar-nominated 2002 film “Gangs of New York,” starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Leonardo DiCaprio

“Death Comes for the Archbishop,” by iconic American author Willa Cather

“The Big Four,” a mystery featuring British author Agatha Christie’s iconic detective Hercule Poirot

“The Tower Treasure,” the first novel of the Hardy Boys series of children’s mystery novels.

“Mosquitoes,” by William Faulkner

Men Without Women,” by Ernest Hemingway

“To The Lighthouse,” by Virginia Woolf

Besides books, the 1927 film “The Jazz Singer,” the first feature film with synchronized sound, or “talkie.”

There are also several songs on the list as well, including “The Best Things in Life Are Free,” from the musical “Good News”; the novelty tune “(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream”; “Ol’ Man River,” from the iconic Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Show Boat”; and the 1927 pop hits “Mississippi Mud” and “My Blue Heaven.”

Last year, the copyright on A.A. Milne’s iconic children’s book series, “Winnie the Pooh.” Months after the copyright expired, movie makers unveiled a slasher horror movie based on the world-famous characters. “Winnie the Pooh: Blood and Honey” is scheduled to debut in theatres on February 15.

Next year, one of the most iconic cartoon characters ever will be open to the public. The New York Times reported earlier this week that on January 1, 2024, the copyright for “Steamboat Willy,” the first-ever film featuring Mickey Mouse in his classic depiction, will enter the public domain, though speculation is rampant that Disney will fight a legal battle to keep its rights to him.

[KarlInOhio]

The New York Times reported earlier this week that on January 1, 2024, the copyright for “Steamboat Willy,” the first-ever film featuring Mickey Mouse in his classic depiction, will enter the public domain, though speculation is rampant that Disney will fight a legal battle to keep its rights to him.

Is it time for Disney to rent Congress (because they're not honest enough to stay bought) again and extend the copyright another five or ten years?

[Red Badger]

Disney probably has 4K HD copies of the Epstein tapes...........................

[NicoDon]

this is exactly what will happen. Disney is not going to risk losing control of Mickey.

[discostu]

I’m kind of surprised they haven’t already. I can’t remember Mickey ever coming within a couple years of landing public domain before. Maybe the prevailing wind is finally going against them, and congress is actually realizing that if they make another change it would basically be “forever”.

[Publius]

The Tower Treasure, The House on the Cliff, and The Secret of the Old Mill were published in 1927. They were the "breeder" for the Hardy Boys series from the Stratemeyer Syndicate as published by Grosset & Dunlap. The actual author was Leslie McFarlane, who was paid a mere $100 for each book, which he wrote from outlines furnished by Edward Stratemeyer himself. Stratemeyer died in 1930, and McFarlane died in 1979.

This article is incomplete.

[Red Badger]

This article is incomplete.

Maybe it’s copyrighted!..................
😁

[Publius]

Leslie McFarlane's autobiography, The Ghost of the Hardy Boys, published in 1977, is one of the funniest books I've ever read. It's out of print, unfortunately.

[Red Badger]

I have read and re-read all of the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories.

In fact I am re-re-reading them right now...................

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I’m a big Sherlock Holmes fan too, since childhood. If you want to read some very funny parodies, try Robert L. Fish’s Schlock Homes stories, or the Warlock Holmes series by G. S. Denning.

[JohnEBoy]

I am a fan, also. I have the one-volume book, The Complete Sherlock Holmes, which has “all four novels and all fifty-six adventures”. It is a great book with a preface by Christpher Morley.

The best film adaptations are the Granada series which follow the novels and stories very closely. Jeremy Brett and David Burke ARE Holmes and Watson. Brett mastered all the mannerisms. The Watson character is not portrayed as a dim-wit as he was in earlier versions. I think you can find the series on You-Tube.

[HartleyMBaldwin]

I seldom watch film versions of anything I enjoyed reading, so I never saw Jeremy Brett playing Holmes. I’ve heard before that it’s a good adaptation, though.

[Ken H]

Agree with you about the adaptations with Jeremy Brett. It’s on the BritTV You Tube channel, which also has the complete Poirot series starring David Suchet.

[vladimir998]

Republished in June of 2022: https://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Hardy-Boys-Writer-Detectives/dp/1567927173

[Publius]

It’s well worth buying. McFarlane is a gifted writer.

[AlaskaErik]

I remember reading the original Hardy Boys books in the 60s, but when I went to reread them a few years later I found they had been rewritten to remove references to firearms and other things.

[zeugma]

Another good site for information is Duke's Public Domain Webpage.

Books entering the Public Domain:
Virginia Woolf, To the Lighthouse
Arthur Conan Doyle, The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes
Willa Cather, Death Comes for the Archbishop
Countee Cullen, Copper Sun
A. A. Milne, Now We Are Six, illustrations by E. H. Shepard
Thornton Wilder, The Bridge of San Luis Rey
Ernest Hemingway, Men Without Women (collection of short stories)
William Faulkner, Mosquitoes
Agatha Christie, The Big Four
Edith Wharton, Twilight Sleep
Herbert Asbury, The Gangs of New York (the original 1927 publication)
Franklin W. Dixon (pseudonym), The Tower Treasure (the first Hardy Boys book)
Hermann Hesse, Der Steppenwolf (in the original German)
Franz Kafka, Amerika (in the original German)
Marcel Proust, Le Temps retrouvé (the final installment of In Search of Lost Time, in the original French)

Movies Entering the Public Domain:
Metropolis (directed by Fritz Lang)
The Jazz Singer (the first feature-length film with synchronized dialogue; directed by Alan Crosland)
Wings (winner of the first Academy Award for outstanding picture; directed by William A. Wellman)
Sunrise (directed by F.W. Murnau)
The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog (Alfred Hitchcock’s first thriller)
The King of Kings (directed by Cecil B. DeMille)
London After Midnight (now a lost film; directed by Tod Browning)
The Way of All Flesh (now a lost film; directed by Victor Fleming)
7th Heaven (inspired the ending of the 2016 film La La Land; directed by Frank Borzage)
The Kid Brother (starring Harold Lloyd; directed by Ted Wilde)
The Battle of the Century (starring the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy; directed by Clyde Bruckman)
Upstream (directed by John Ford)

Musical Compositions entering the public domain:
The Best Things in Life Are Free (George Gard De Sylva, Lew Brown, Ray Henderson; from the musical Good News)
(I Scream You Scream, We All Scream for) Ice Cream (Howard Johnson, Billy Moll, Robert A. King)
Puttin’ on the Ritz (Irving Berlin)
Funny Face and ’S Wonderful (Ira and George Gershwin; from the musical Funny Face)
Can’t Help Lovin’ Dat Man and Ol’ Man River (Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern; from the musical Show Boat)
Back Water Blues, Preaching the Blues, Foolish Man Blues (Bessie Smith)
Potato Head Blues, Gully Low Blues (Louis Armstrong)
Rusty Pail Blues, Sloppy Water Blues, Soothin’ Syrup Stomp (Thomas Waller)
Black and Tan Fantasy and East St. Louis Toodle-O (Bub Miley, Duke Ellington)
Billy Goat Stomp, Hyena Stomp, Jungle Blues (Ferdinand Joseph Morton)
My Blue Heaven (George Whiting, Walter Donaldson)
Diane (Erno Rapee, Lew Pollack)
Mississippi Mud (Harry Barris, James Cavanaugh)

[zeugma]

this is exactly what will happen. Disney is not going to risk losing control of Mickey.

They won't lose control of Mickey Mouse regardless of copyright. Copyright and trademarks are two completely different things. I believe Steamboat Willie entered the public domain last year. That does not mean the character of Mickey Mouse is free for anyone to user as they see fit.

[Pilsner]

I remember reading the original Hardy Boys books in the 60s, but when I went to reread them a few years later I found they had been rewritten to remove references to firearms and other things.

Some Hardy Boys have been rewritten numerous times. I have read that the first set of rewrites "dumbed down" the books, by reducing the reading level by something like four grades. Some of the updating, -- removing references to telegrams, not having Frank and Joe meet spritely Civil-War veterans -- probably helped keep the stories fresh for kids. But they also turned Frank and Joe into good two-shoes who refuse to exceed the speed limit, even in an emergency. But in one early book, Tower Treasure, I think, Frank and Joe created a hoax bomb to district the police!

[NicoDon]

Last I saw, they will lose the copyright on steamboat willy on January 1 of 2024.

Regardless of whatever your point is, my point is that Disney has been the driving force behind at least the last three extensions of copyright law for the sole purpose of protecting Mickey Mouse. That’s hardly going to change now that they are bigger than they ever were in the past. I probably should have spelled that out better in my previous post.