JOHN LENNON's widow YOKO ONO has lost her legal bid to sue a filmmaker for using the former BEATLE's hit track IMAGINE without permission.
Ono and Lennon's two sons Sean and Julian joined publisher EMI Blackwood Music Inc to launch legal action against the filmmakers of Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed.
In a lawsuit filed at U.S. District Court in Manhattan, New York in April (08), Ono demanded Premise Media Corporation, C+S Production LP and Rocky Mountain Pictures ban the track in its movie.
They also sought unspecified damages.
But on Monday (2Jun08), U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein found in favour of the filmmakers based on a "fair use" doctrine.
Stein ruled: "That doctrine provides that the fair use of a copyrighted work for purposes of criticism and commentary is not an infringement of copyright."
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