Imagine: Yoko Ono in 2 Lawsuits Over John Lennon Rights
In two separate lawsuits, the widow of John Lennon is seeking to protect her late husband’s memory from commercial exploitation. Yoko Ono reportedly wants to force the removal of an excerpt from Lennon’s song “Imagine” from a documentary about Darwinian evolution and regain possession of a 1970 home video that features the ex-Beatle composing the song “Remember,” smoking weed and wondering if he should drug then-President Richard M. Nixon.
In a Manhattan federal suit, Ono is suing the producer of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed. The defendant, Premise Media, claims the documentary’s inclusion of small portion of “Imagine” was fair use. However, Ono contends she has been embarrassed by assumptions that she sold the song to the filmmaker, reports the Associated Press.
Meanwhile, Ono is in a separate Massachusetts legal battle with World Wide Video, over the consortium’s plan to distribute the aforementioned home video featuring Lennon, Agence France-Presse wrote. World Wide Video contends it bought the documentary legally from Ono’s first husband.
