Just in case that you missed it, The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles is finally going to head west after being exclusive to Japan for years. This series of spin-off titles is based on the Ace Attorney series of games. However, unlike the more contemporary setting of the mainline titles, the spin-offs are set in the late 1800s and stars Ryūnosuke Naruhodō, the ancestor of the Ace Attorney series protagonist, Phoenix Wright.
Because of its time setting, the developers, Capcom, decided that it would be fitting to insert the famous Sherlock Holmes into the games. Unfortunately, while this is a great idea, Capcom isn't exactly allowed to use that IP. At least, not in the western release of the game.
As a result, we westerners will now have to settle for the equally competent Herlock Sholmes instead. Why Can't The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles Use Sherlock Holmes? Just as Ryunosuke Naruhodo will prove to you, objections run in the family.
You might wonder, why does Capcom need to rename Sherlock Holmes to Herlock Sholmes for the western release of The Great Ace Attorney Chronicles? After all, the majority of the written works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, the author, and the creator of Sherlock Holmes, is already in the public domain. This means that anyone can pretty much use the name Sherlock Holmes now, as well as his likeness.
Unfortunately, this isn't necessarily the case. Apparently, ten of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories remain protections under US copyright laws. Because of this, Doyle's estate has free reigns to contest all uses of the name Sherlock Holmes in the west. In fact, Doyle's estate argued that the only reason why it dismissed a lawsuit lodged against the Netflix film titled Enola Holmes is that it created "significant new character traits for Holmes and Watson.