Does the blogosphere memory extend further than three weeks?
You’ll recall that Yoko Ono had sued Premise Media and the makers of the creationist propaganda documentary, ‘Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed’ for using John Lennon’s classic 1971 anthem “Imagine” in the documentary without her permission (the full use was 15-seconds).
The filmmakers said they would defend the use of the song under the fair-use doctrine. We assumed they would have no shot in hell given Ono’s litigious nature and surely Cerberus-like lawyers, but we were wrong.
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein ruled that the filmmakers are protected by U.S. copyright law allowing work to be used for criticism or commentary. “That doctrine provides that the fair use of a copyrighted work for the purposes of criticism and commentary is not an infringement of copyright,” Stein wrote in his decision, reports the Associated Press.
Lawyers for the film had argued that the “nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too” — was integral to the documentary as “it represents the most popular and persuasive embodiment of this viewpoint that the world is better off without religion.” The film, he said, is “asking if John Lennon was right and it’s concluding he was wrong.”
Ono’s personal defense was, “One of the most basic rights I control by reviewing and choosing licenses is the right to say ‘no.’ The filmmakers simply looted me of the ability to do so.”
After the ruling calls to Ono’s attorney for comment were not returned.