Should unfinished posthumous novels be published?

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by carld

There's no legal quagmire in that scenario. All those stories and characters are in the public domain, and anyone is free to use them. Doyle's estate has no say-so in the matter.

correct. its only in viable copyright cases (i.e. Ann Rice or JK Rowling) that you'd have an issue.

[Hellmark]

Originally Posted by crich70

Interesting. I imagine then that books that put characters like Sherlock Holmes together with Dracula or Mr. Hyde are only possible then because the estate of A.C. Doyle allows such works to be published. Or maybe due to the fact the books are PD some leeway exists.Either way it does sound like a legal quagmire best avoided if possible.

They're public domain. You can do anything you want with anything in the public domain, since they're no longer copyrighted. The estate of Doyle has zero control anymore over what happens with his characters, stories, or text. If I want, I can take Hound of the Baskervilles, slap my name on it instead of Doyle's and sell it, and that is ok with copyright and legal matters.

[astrangerhere]

Originally Posted by Hellmark

They're public domain. You can do anything you want with anything in the public domain, since they're no longer copyrighted. The estate of Doyle has zero control anymore over what happens with his characters, stories, or text. If I want, I can take Hound of the Baskervilles, slap my name on it instead of Doyle's and sell it, and that is ok with copyright and legal matters.

The Sherlockians might hunt you down though