After the literary character Sherlock Holmes entered the public domain in 1981, the estate of author Arthur Conan Doyle staunchly protected the remaining copyrights for the character until 2023, on the basis of infringing works using human emotions or opinions not shown in earlier stories (i.e. respecting women, liking dogs, a warmer relationship with his partner Watson). Royalty Free-for-All was originally going to feature Sherlock Holmes as a robotic character to poke fun at these restrictions while playing by them, but it was later decided that another literary character, the murderous barber Sweeney Todd, was a better fit for a robot and could be depicted as electronic shaving equipment. This decision was also motivated by Conan Doyle's final Sherlock Holmes stories having gone into the public domain by the time the game was revealed, making the original joke outdated.