Recurring characters in the Hercule Poirot stories Recurring characters in the Hercule Poirot stories This page details the other fictional characters created by Agatha Christie in her stories about the Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot. Hastings first meets Poirot during his years as a private detective in Europe. Almost immediately after they both arrive in England, he becomes Poirot's partner, and appears in many of the novels and stories. Poirot's view of Hastings was of a man with plenty of imagination but not a great deal of brains. Hastings was capable of great bravery when the going got tough, facing death unflinchingly when confronted by the "Big Four"
Copyright protection for fictional characters faire" doctrine holds that those scenes or aspects that are indispensable to the story or are standard expressions cannot be copyrighted. This limitation also applies to fictional characters. Therefore, stock characters or archetypical and hackneyed elements are disqualified from protection by virtue of the fact that they are not unique in their expression. In cases of copyright infringement of a fictional character, a two-step test developed by the American Courts has to be satisfied. Firstly, it must be established that the character in question is capable of being copyrighted. Secondly, it must be demonstrated that there has been an infringement