Yoko Ono Sues Documentary Filmmakers for Use of "Imagine"

Imagine there's no rights permission.

It's easy if you're Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon, who has filed suit against Premise Media, the production company behind the documentary film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.

Ono, along with son Sean and stepson Julian, has asserted that the film illegally uses the song "Imagine," which the suit claims "has become closely associated with and is synonymous with John Lennon," falsely leading viewers to believe that the late artist's family purposely elected to endorse and sponsor the film and its message.

Expelled questions the theory of Darwinian evolution and suggests that doing so is not allowed in society, essentially claiming that science is a field not necessarily protected under the First Amendment. The film, which features Ben Stein--an actor, public speaker and former speech writer to Presidents Nixon and Ford--argues that we should not accept the prevailing scientific consensus that human life began with "a bug being struck by lighting." Rather, it could be the result of intelligent design--a theory not likely on John Lennon's mind as he composed the line "Imagine there's no heaven."

Premise claims that only "a very small portion" of the song was used, and that it was permissible under the doctrine of fair use; Ono's complaint asserts that the filmmakers purposely avoided asking for permission because they knew it would not be granted or as a way to escape payment.

Click here for full story from Forbes Magazine.

Photo posted on Flickr.com under a creative commons license by mountain man ny2.