What would you do w/an original 8mm film of Mantle?

yankeeno7

I have a clip of film from the 1960 World Series and Mantle hitting a home run. This was an 8mm film taken by a gentleman that worked for the associated press.

I emailed MLB 1.5 years ago and they responded 6 months later stating that it is the property of MLB and could not be used(which I knew from the beginning). I re-emailed them to find out how I go about obtaining a license for this footage...but still no response and it has been one year.

I have never watched the film. I have been thinking of having it transferred to DVD and/or CD just for my viewing pleasure. It's not much film...probably less than 5 minutes worth. There could be some great still shots which I am the most curious about.

So, what would you do? I would love to get this licensed but am at a road block.

Knuckles

I would do as you said get the film put on dvd or just mpeg and sell the original on eBay. eh..

ptper

I had a similar situation crop up about 10 years ago. I have the 8mm tapes of the 1970 and 1971 basketball seasons that I wanted transferred onto video tape. I went to my local camera store and they would not transfer it because it violated copyright, which was the correct response.

I called NBA Entertainment and they faxed me permission to have copies made for home use only. I had to fax them a form stating that I would not sell them or charge money to view them. I took the permission form to the camera shop and they transferred the tapes.

I sure that there will be more red tape at MLB, but you will most likely need to get permission from them to copy it.

Since it was filmed by an AP photographer, presumably on assignment, then I'm not sure who holds the copyright, but it makes sense that it is MLB.

yankeeno7

I dont know copyright laws.

Im dont see how it should be different than if I took photos at a baseball game and had 8x10's made of my pictures. That is, not considering any sales, but for my own enjoyment.

Since I own the original film, I would think I would have that right if I am not trying to sell reproductions of the product.

Is their ownership of the trademark by MLB, NY Yankees, and player's names a given that they have the right to the copyright? I guess it just doesnt make sense to me. Anyway, I would think a license from MLB would cover any rights from the teams, players, etc.

I can't imagine that people who sell photos pay fees to MLB, the team, and the player...but can imagine they only have to pay MLB.

Any further thoughts would be appreciated!

THEBULLPEN

After years of neglect, MLB is now cracking the whip with respect to intellectual property rights. I had an eBay auction terminated because MLB said I inappropriately used the Angels logo without permission on some tickets I was selling- so they actually now have someone going through every eBay auction looking for things. I later tried to become an official licensee of MLB on another matter, but they said they have closed their licensing program to new entrants completely.

Having previously worked in the tv biz, I know a little about footage rights. Like the other poster said, you have the right to transfer the footage to another media format if it is for your own personal use and not for financial gain- courts have repeatedly upheld this sort of thing in the music business (like if you copy a cd to an ipod and throw away or store the cd), but also due to the music business, specifically Napster, if an editor helped you facilitate a violation of copyright, they are culpable and would want to cover themselves in writing before they will facilitate a transfer to DVD.

All that being said your main market to sell it legally is to sell it to a stock footage house that buys raw clips for their libraries and uses them in MLB licensed productions. Then its like if you sold your old copy of Microsoft Office you no longer use to someone who has a license, but lost their disk... sort of. The catch is you could only sell it once and the only way you will make any decent money is if its a really significant event or its just such high quality they just want it.

Hope that helps.

RipublicaninMass

You could try smoking it?