Court Denies Preliminary Injunction To Yoko Ono In Suit Over Anti-Evolution Film

Yesterday in Yoko Ono Lennon v. Premise Media Corp., (SDNY, June 2, 2008), a New York federal district court refused to grant a preliminary injunction to Yoko Ono in her copyright infringement suit over use of a 15-second excerpt from a John Lennon song in the film "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed". Yesterday's International Herald Tribune and Wall Street Journal Law Blog both report on the decision relating to music and lyrics from the song "Imagine". The movie claims academic suppression of supporters of Intelligent Design theory. In denying the preliminary injunction, the court held that defendants are likely to succeed on their "fair use" defense. (See prior related posting.)