JFK assassination: Woman sues US government for return of film

[webfact]

JFK assassination: Woman sues for return of film

(BBC) A woman whose grandfather filmed the assassination of President John F Kennedy as a home movie is suing the US government for its return.

Gayle Nix Jackson is also seeking $10m (£6.6m) in compensation over the film shot by Orville Nix in November 1963.

He sold the film to a news agency that year but it was later handed to the government for its inquiries.

Ms Nix Jackson says she was told this year the government agency believed to be in possession did not have the film.

The 8mm Nix film was shot from the opposite side of the presidential limousine from where the famous Zapruder film was taken on 22 November 1963.

Full story: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-34907705


-- BBC 2015-11-25

[billd766]

AFAIK if you sell for example a film to a news agency it then ceases to be your property and becomes that of the buyer.

How can she sue the US government for something that she personally never owned when her grandfather, who did own it, had already sold it on?

If anybody should be suing the government it should be the news agency that owned the film.

Or am I just being silly and logical?

[Linky]

Depends on the contract of sale I suppose. Could have been stipulations and restrictions on its use.

[stevenl]

AFAIK if you sell for example a film to a news agency it then ceases to be your property and becomes that of the buyer.

How can she sue the US government for something that she personally never owned when her grandfather, who did own it, had already sold it on?

If anybody should be suing the government it should be the news agency that owned the film.

Or am I just being silly and logical?

According to her website, http://gaylenixjackson.com/about-orville-nix/, the film itself was not sold, but only the copyrights were. The main purpose here seems to be the sales of her book.

Edited November 25, 2015 by stevenl

[mesquite]

Also, remember that lawsuits in the US are like playing the lottery for free. A lawyer has no doubt taken the case on consignment so she has nothing to lose and $10M to gain.

[sanukjim]

Strange fact: When this film was taken it was in an old type color process.The FBI at the time in Dallas had no way of processing the color film so they gave it to a reporter of the local TV station to have the Station process it for them.After developing the film the reporter took it home with him to be delivered the next day.That night his family were the first people to see the film of the assassination.Lee Harvey Oswald was kept in a Dallas county jail and not a federal lock up as their were no federal law on the books for killing the president so it became the State of Texas's responsibility to prosecute him.There is now a federal change for this.The reporter is retired (still living in Dallas) and his son works for that same TV station.

[sanukjim]

There have been thousands of copies of this film distributed to many media stations through out the years.. Mr Nix donated the camera and film to the FBI asking only for the camera back.So if they gave her the original 8mm film she could sell it in an auction for a lot of money but for her to recieve compensation for the FBI having it all these years for get it.