The news that US network CBS is to film Elementary, a contemporary, New York based take on Sherlock Holmes has been greeted with widespread derision. Fans of the BBC series Sherlock have been outraged, while the makers of that programme have issued stern warnings that their lawyers will be paying very close attention to the American version. But really, should people honestly be getting that upset?

On the one hand, another updating of the Sherlock Holmes stories seems spectacularly redundant given just how on the money the BBC show is. It’s hard to imagine anyone better cast than Cumberbatch, or enjoying better chemistry than he does with Martin Freeman’s Watson. The whole air of ‘why bother’ isn’t helped by the casting of Cumberbatch’s recent stage fellow Jonny Lee Miller in the lead – fine actor he may be, but it feels like the producers went to see the National Theatre’s production of Frankenstein (which starred both men) and said ‘He’s perfect to play Holmes! Oh, wait, he is already, let’s just get the other one.’

But – while I’m obviously no copyright lawyer and I absolutely respect a creator’s moral right to protect their intellectual property – I do wonder if, when you’ve just made a big batch of money putting your own slant on another writer’s creations, you have a moral leg to stand on if you complain when someone else tries to do the same thing? It’s clear from the casting of Lucy Liu as Watson that CBS is doing something different, and after all it’s not the first time that Holmes has been put in a contemporary setting – Basil Rathbone fought the Nazis, for God’s sake. Shouldn’t the Moffat/Gatiss camp just be secure in their own version and let the Yanks take their chances?

The whole thing reminds me of the recent furore over the ‘Before Watchmen’ comics: I’m at a loss as to how fans can get their knickers in quite such a twist over the desecration of this supposedly sacrosanct story, when Watchmen creator Alan Moore has himself spent a big part of his career taking other writer’s characters and using them for his own – often a bit porny – intentions. Why should he be exempt from his own rules?

The space between reboots may be ever shrinking – there seems to be a new Batman and Spider-man along every five minutes, and Bryan Singer was planning his Battlestar Galactica movie even as the dust settled on the TV series, but is this something we, as fans, should be bothered about? Or should we just see all of these versions as a buffet of offerings, from which we can take the ones we fancy? Should there be any sacred cows in fiction or should everything (within legal copyright limits, obviously) be up for grabs? Just think of how widely condemned the idea of a Star Trek reboot was – no one but Shatner could ever be Kirk! – and how insanely enjoyable the film ended up being. One day someone will even remake Star Wars – at this rate, Lucas is changing it so regularly it’ll end up being its own remake – and I’m sure everyone will be up in arms about it but you know what? If we don’t like it, we don’t have to watch it.

And so it is with Elementary. Personally, I love Sherlock Holmes, whether it’s Benedict and his cheekbones, the cocky charm of Robert Downey Jr or the peerless calm of Jeremy Brett – hell, I even like the much ignored Rupert Everett and Richard Roxburgh versions. I’ll watch Elementary and hope that it’s good and if it’s not, so what? It’s not my money wasted.

Do you agree or disagree? Do let me know in the comments! I’ll be back in a fortnight with another Fangirl Unleashed column and in the meantime feel free to pop over to my blog BodyofaGeekGoddess.