Soviets Sued for Sabotaging Sherlock

Harold J. Berman, professor of Law, has returned from Russia after initiating what is probably the first law suit ever brought by a Western attorney in a Soviet civil court.

Acting in behalf of the estate of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, British author of the Sherlock Holmes series, Berman sued four Soviet state publishing houses and the Ministry of Culture for two million rubles from their profits in publishing Doyle's works, chiefly the Holmes stories.

"The court," according to Berman, "is now deciding whether to hear the case. If it's accepted, I'll probably return to Moscow next August for the trial; if rejected, I'm told I may appeal to the Supreme Court of the Russian Republic."

He asserted that the absence of copyright treatises be tween Russia and free-world states has allowed Soviet pub-ishers "to pirate the works of Western authors" without their consent and without guaranteeeing compensation. Western firms have dealt in the same way with the works of Russian authors, Berman stressed.

"The Doyle suit, however, is based on a provision of the Soviet Civil Code itself, which requires the reimbursement of any 'unjust enrichment' gain at the expense of another person or organization," Berman noted. "I hope that a decision in the Conan Doyle case may serve as the legal basis for a regular system of compensation."