[Leica] Agfa theft?

[wvl <wvl@marinternet.com>]

If theft is an unlawful taking, then Agfa's technical assets were not
stolen from the American division of Agfa. The US took enemy property
and bank accounts during WWII as was legal under the accepted Laws of
War and custom. My Father-in-Law was an attorney who worked at Ansco
(formerly Agfa-Ansco) from the late 40's to early 70's. Much of his work
was with the Alien Property Custodian Office of the Federal Gov't. which
owned Ansco. Ansco became GAF and was not sold by the Alien Property
Office untill late 60's, I believe. It may be that the Ektachrome
technology was obtained from the German Agfa assets without reference to
Ansco, but, right of conquest is older than written history and was a
major feature of the occupation period. BTW, I believe audio tape
recording technology was brought back to the US by an officer who got
Bing Crosby to invest in his new company, Ampex.
Bill Lawlor