Yoko Ono and the sons of John Lennon have lost a bid to prevent the usage of Lennon’s song “Imagine” in the Ben Stein-starring film Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, which examines discrimination against teachers who include the theory of intelligent design in their curriculum. Judge Sidney Stein found that the use of the track fell under fair-use guidelines, and that the producers wouldn’t have to re-edit the film to snip the song out. [Reuters]
June 3rd, 2008 // 2 Comments
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I don’t know who I’m rooting for here — I like the fair-use ruling, but I kind of want Yoko to win this one. What a perversion of the song’s meaning.
Perversion of the song’s meaning, yes, but it really seems to me like this is pretty fair use. Also, by bringing this case, all Ono has done is give this flimsy excuse for a film another chance to play the “Liberal elite doesn’t tolerate opposing viewpoints” card. Stein and company really got handed a heads we win, tails you lose scenario here.