Yoko Ono Gets Her Wish Despite Dropping 'Imagine' Case

By Eriq Gardner

Those copyright infringement lawsuits against Premise Media over an unauthorized clip of John Lennon's "Imagine" in "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" are dead. Previously, a judge denied Yoko Ono's request for an injunction against the anti-evolution documentary. In another case, EMI was denied a similar injunction. Both plaintiffs then decided to drop their case.

Right result, says Premise's lawyer Anthony Falzone, but way too late.

"The mere pendency of these cases caused the film's DVD distributor to shy away from releasing the full film -- the version that includes the Imagine segment," he writes on his blog. "So the film goes out on DVD on October 21 in censored form, illustrating the damage that even an unproved and unsupported infringement claim can do."

Falzone hopes to use this case to solve the fair use dilemma. Perhaps like Stephanie Lenz, they might sue for a baseless copyright claim.