For the Heirs to Holmes, a Tangled Web http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/19/books/19sherlock.html
British tourism hopes to cash in on Sherlock Holmes
http://www.cnn.com/2010/BUSINESS/01/18/sherlock.holmes.tourism.london/?hpt=Sbin
The Official Web Site of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate
http://www.sherlockholmesonline.org/
The Sherlock Holmes Museum of Baker Street
http://www.sherlock-holmes.co.uk/
Works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/d/doyle/arthur_conan/
The Sherlock Holmes Society of London: Radio Programs [iTunes]
http://www.sherlock-holmes.org.uk/world/radio.php
For years, Sherlock Holmes moved swiftly through the moors of England's West Country and the gas-lit streets of London, pushed along through the mind and literary sensibilities of A. Conan Doyle. Since Doyle's passing in 1930, Sherlock Holmes has popped up in various creative ventures, including films, comic books, radio plays, and video games. It appears that despite being 123 years old, Holmes may have encountered a type of Moriarty in the form of a complicated legal battle over rights to works derived from his original adventures. This week, the New York Times reported on an ongoing battle over the rights to Conan Doyle's literary properties that spans generations (and a stint under the direction of the Royal Bank of Scotland), and not surprisingly, the Atlantic Ocean. In brief, the guardianship of Conan Doyle's properties was handed down to the three children he had with his second wife, and after they had all passed away, the rights transferred to a charity, which sold them back to other Doyle heirs. But a wrinkle appeared in the form of one Andrea Plunket, who has claimed that because her family had purchased the Conan Doyle properties in the 1970s, and as such, she asserts that she is the administrator of the estate. Jon Lellenberg, the American literary agent for the Conan Doyle estate has commented that it is "enough to make lawyers' eyes roll up in their heads. Even British lawyers." Lellenberg also remarked that Sherlock Holmes will be under copyright protection in the United States through 2023, and that any new projects or ventures involving the famed crime solver would always need to be officially licensed by the estate.
The first link leads to a piece from the New York Times on the ongoing situation regarding the literary estate of Conan Doyle. The second link will take users to an interesting article from CNN about the attempts to lift British tourism via the success of the recent Sherlock Holmes film. The third link will lead visitors to the official website of the Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Literary Estate. One noteworthy highlight here is the very detailed biography of Conan Doyle. The fourth link will lead users to the homepage of the Sherlock Holmes Museum in London. The fifth link takes interested parties to a nice trove of online editions of Conan Doyle's most celebrated works, including "A Study in Scarlet", "The Lost World", and "The Valley of Fear". Finally, the last link leads to a clutch of Sherlock Holmes radio adaptations performed by the Old Court Radio Theatre Company.
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