Legal Issues

Legal Issues

by Mike Masnick


Filed Under:
ben stein, copyright, fair use, imagine, john lennon, movies, yoko ono



Judge Sides With Ben Stein Over Yoko Ono In Fair Use Dispute

from the imagine-copyright-made-sense dept

Back in April, we covered the dispute between Yoko Ono and the controversial Ben Stein movie Expelled. Ono was upset that the movie used a snippet of John Lennon's Imagine for criticism purposes. While the movie has many problems, and given the controversial nature of the subject matter, one can understand why Ono doesn't want the song used in the movie -- that doesn't mean she had a legal leg to stand on. As we noted, it seemed pretty clear that the movie makers were very much on the right side of the law, and now a judge has agreed. In turning down Ono's request for an injunction against the movie, the judge noted that the defendants were likely to prevail using a "fair use" defense.

6 Comments | Leave a Comment..

 
 

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  1. Jun 2nd, 2008 @ 3:27pm
    by todd

    one can understand why Ono doesn't want the song used in the movie -- that doesn't mean she had a legal leg to stand on
    If only Heather Mills owned the rights to the song...

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  2. Jun 2nd, 2008 @ 3:29pm

    that's just not RIGHT..... funny, but WICKED

    by Anonymous Coward

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  3. Jun 2nd, 2008 @ 4:03pm

    Ono>No

    by whirler

    Finally, Ono gets a taste of reality. It's just too bad that John didn't when they first met.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  4. Jun 2nd, 2008 @ 4:25pm
    by Anonymous Coward

    "Judge Sides With Ben Stein Over Yoko Ono In Fair Use Dispute"

    Is there ANY dispute between Stein and Ono where Stein would lose? The title kinda says it all, I think!

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  5. Jun 2nd, 2008 @ 9:20pm

    And Ono's retort

    by Brock

    Aeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaeeeeeee.

    Played to the tune of fingernails on a chalk board.

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

  6. Jun 3rd, 2008 @ 8:29am

    Re:

    Don't you know that Heather Mills owns everything?

    Everything, she tells you, drowning in tears as she complains that it isn't enough!

    ttfn

    John

    (reply to this comment) (link to this comment)

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