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Originally Posted by SleepyBob
If something like Sherlock Holmes (or Mickey Mouse) ends up being trademarked, how does that interact with copyrights, once they expire?
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There are in place trademarks for some rather prominent characters and the way it (theoretically) works is that the stories may enter the public domain but not the characters themselves. So no new stories can be told using the trademarked elements but the old stuff can be freely distributed and commercialized. Not totally unfair, especially with visual trademarks like cartoon and comic book characters.
As is, the companies in question (Disney, TimeWarner) are actively exploiting their trademarked characters and have subtly altered them over the decades so there is no shortage of material featuring the contemporary versions. This both strengthens their trademark and weakens any potential market for attempts to exploit the PD versions. For example, you're not going to see many kids wearing steamboat willie pajamas because that is not the mouse they are looking for. Which means there won't be much value in trying to invalidate the trademark even if it were possible.
Similar cases can be made for the older characters like Captain America, Namor, the Human Torch, Superman, Batman, etc. Even relatively minor golden age comics characters like Starman and Manhunter have valuable trademarks and are fiercely protected by following the trademark rules religiously. By now both DC and marvel have IP staff dedicated to making sure no character or character name falls into the PD or gets hijacked as happened with "Captain Marvel".
In the Holmes case, however, the trademark coming so late in the game the odds are the mark will be denied. There simply isn't much left to trademark. In fact, things like the familiar silhouette or Watson's look come from the movies, not the stories themselves.