Likening the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to a shakedown artist, Judge Richard Posner of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit has once again ruled for a California lawyer who tussled with the estate over copyright licensing fees.
Earlier this summer, the same Posner-led panel ruled that the estate had unlawfully sought a $5,000 licensing fee from Leslie Klinger, a writer and attorney who put together an anthology of Sherlock Holmes tales written by contemporary authors. In a short but fierce follow-up ruling issued on Monday, the Seventh Circuit ordered Conan Doyle’s estate to pay roughly $30,000 that Klinger says he incurred during the appellate phase of the copyright fight. (Klinger also has a pending motion for $39,000 in attorney fees incurred at the trial court level.)
