SOVIET PERIOD FILMS IN TODAY’S COPYRIGHT LAW: GERMAN AND BALTIC EXPERIENCE

1. Introduction Within society, films (1) have several functions. They serve as mass media, still most essential today, apart from the internet. They are a form of artistic expression, and an economical factor. While its function as mass media has always been dominant since the creation of the first 'motion pictures' around 1900--and therefore served as an ideal propaganda tool for various regimes--the importance of the artistic and the economic aspect changed over time. In the Soviet Union, the value of films and movies as means of information, education and propaganda was realized from its earliest days. Mosfilm, founded in 1920, as the oldest European film studio and long being the large…