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.

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


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

    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...

    link to this | view in thread ]

  2. identicon
    Anonymous Coward, 2 Jun 2008 @ 3:29pm

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

    link to this | view in thread ]

  3. identicon
    whirler, 2 Jun 2008 @ 4:03pm

    Ono>No

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

    link to this | view in thread ]

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

    "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!

    link to this | view in thread ]

  5. identicon
    Brock, 2 Jun 2008 @ 9:20pm

    And Ono's retort

    Aeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaeeeeeeeeeeeehaaaaaaaeeeeeee.

    Played to the tune of fingernails on a chalk board.

    link to this | view in thread ]

  6. identicon
    John Wilson, 3 Jun 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

    link to this | view in thread ]


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