[Milsurplus] Advice on some WWII films ?

Sat Aug 10 22:36:53 EDT 2019

>how do I retain "rights" to the content
Who made the film?  Generally, unless you recorded the film, you have no legal rights to or ownership of the content.  That belongs to the original maker, you only own a copy, like owning a 45rpm record. 
Now, I've only read up a bit on copyrights, not a lawyer, but I'm pretty sure a lawyer will tell you the same.  Unless you've a document where the original maker conferred copyright to you.  And if it's gone to public domain due to passage of time or a relinquishing of original copyright, you can't re-copyright.
WayneWB4OGM
-----Original Message-----
From: Hubert Miller <Kargo_cult at msn.com>
To: Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net <Milsurplus at mailman.qth.net>; armyradios at yahoogroups.com <armyradios at yahoogroups.com>
Cc: nwvrs at googlegroups.com <nwvrs at googlegroups.com>
Sent: Sat, Aug 10, 2019 6:01 pm
Subject: [Milsurplus] Advice on some WWII films ?

 &lt;!-- #yiv0058305031 _filtered #yiv0058305031 {font-family:"Cambria Math";panose-1:2 4 5 3 5 4 6 3 2 4;} _filtered #yiv0058305031 {font-family:Calibri;panose-1:2 15 5 2 2 2 4 3 2 4;} #yiv0058305031 #yiv0058305031 p.yiv0058305031MsoNormal, #yiv0058305031 li.yiv0058305031MsoNormal, #yiv0058305031 div.yiv0058305031MsoNormal {margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;} #yiv0058305031 a:link, #yiv0058305031 span.yiv0058305031MsoHyperlink {color:#0563C1;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv0058305031 a:visited, #yiv0058305031 span.yiv0058305031MsoHyperlinkFollowed {color:#954F72;text-decoration:underline;} #yiv0058305031 span.yiv0058305031EmailStyle17 {font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;color:windowtext;} #yiv0058305031 .yiv0058305031MsoChpDefault {font-family:"Calibri", sans-serif;} _filtered #yiv0058305031 {margin:1.0in 1.0in 1.0in 1.0in;} #yiv0058305031 div.yiv0058305031WordSection1 {} --&gt;I know there's a wealth of wisdom in this group on all kinds of subjects.
So, I submit: I have an old 16mm film. I don't know for certain the content, but the handwritten label on the can says, "Radio Berlin 1938". I have owned this since, I don't know, maybe 1985. Time to finally do something, fish or cut bait. So I'm thinking, find a company in the Big City that could transcribe this to a DVD. Here's my concern: if I do this, how do I retain "rights" to the content ? I am not thinking that owning this film will finance my retirement. I do not know if this is the only copy surviving. What I would like to do is to control the ownership of the content. I would not be happy taking it to a transcriber service, and then next month it's on YouTube, and at my not insignificant expense. Or worse, someone starts selling DVDs of it on YouTube. I probably envision myself donating it to GFGF, the German radio collector club, which seems to me a pretty well ordered organization. ( No surprise there ! ) But I want to have control up to that point. I also considered that if the film has "Nazi content", such as flags and so on, any DVD copy generated in Germany today would have images censored.  Would I need some kind of protective contract ? Do I need legal representation to enforce this and protect me ? Or am I just nuts ? All of the above ? None ?  I also have a German airforce training film, I think, a gun-camera type film, and one on "Ball Bearing Production in the Reich". Okay, so this last title is not that thrilling.    I thought in general, old 8mm and 16mm films were worth something, but I was very wrong. I recently sold boxes of both. The 16mm film bunch sold for such tiny money I am too embarrassed to even state it. But at least, I got them moved on. But – those where ordinary commercial newsreel type films.    I'm trying to recall where I bought the Radio Berlin film. I think I bought it from a U.S. Army veteran who'd been in the occupation force. He was with a "mobile propaganda broadcast" company in WWII Europe. I acquired the broadcast unit's "War Remembrance Book" which as often is the case, doesn't really have enough of the technical detail we crave. At the time he also offered me a tape recorder, with a set of Nazi leader speeches on tape, but the recorder weighed close to 100 lbs. and I simply did not want to deal with anything that large + heavy.    I think in the past I posted something about this to some of these groups. My apologies for the repetition; I kind of forget the advice I received at that time, and in any case, now that I have the other, common films disposed of, these rarer ones are about next on the agenda; I'm finally about ready to get moving on them at last. thanks- Hue Miller                    ______________________________________________________________
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