Yoko Ono sues in NY over song in movie challenging evolution

[ET Awful]

Source: AP

In a lawsuit filed in federal court in Manhattan, Ono accuses the producers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" of suggesting to viewers that those who guard John Lennon's legacy somehow authorized or sponsored the film.

The producers of the film, which features Ben Stein challenging Darwinian theories that prevail in academic circles and suggesting that life could have emerged through intelligent design, said they used only "a very small portion of the song."

"Based on the fair use doctrine, news commentators and film documentarians regularly use material in the same way we do," Premise Media said in a statement. "Unbiased viewers of the film will see that the 'Imagine' clip was used as part of a social commentary in the exercise of free speech and freedom of inquiry."

Ono's lawsuit claims the producers did not ask for permission either because they knew they couldn't get it or because they did not want to pay for the rights. It objects to the way "Imagine" is listed in the film's credits, saying it suggested to members of the news media and others that the song's use had been approved.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20080424/D90870980.html

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I think it's okay to put this in breaking news, I found it interesting.

[Cooley Hurd]

1. Recommended

:thumbsup:

[Joe Bacon]

13. Rotten Tomatoes has this Ben Stein Bomb at 11%

Hmmm, Maybe B.S. will get a RAZZIE nomination out of this!

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/expelled_no_intelligence_allowed/

Read the posted reviews! They're hilarious!!!!!

[Lorien]

42. Lol! Thanks for the link. Here's a few that I liked:

One of the sleaziest documentaries to arrive in a very long time, Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed is a conspiracy-theory rant masquerading as investigative inquiry.

Junk science meets even junkier filmmaking in Expelled -- a no more shameless, stupid and loathsome piece of propaganda has ever skulked its way into the theater.

t shows us bogus security files, as if some cabal is spying on everyone. It shirks the facts. And it madly edits images to equate Darwin with Hitler, and Ben Stein with -- yes -- Ronald Reagan. Typical of all propaganda, it also distorts language.

For a film about American freedom of expression and the necessity for open dialogue, it's hard to imagine Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed being more one-sided, narrow-minded, and intellectually dishonest.

The man made famous by Ferris Bueller, however, quickly wades into waters far too deep for him.

[trotsky]

2. Terrible error in the article's headline.

Expelled doesn't even come close to "challenging" evolution. It's an utter joke.

[Ian David]

9. Good point. Even "Christianity Today" says the movie fails to actually challenge Evolution. n/t

[wmbrew0206]

66. The movie isn't about challenge evoultion

The movie is more about what happens to any professor or scientist that brings up ID than challenging evolution, which the movie pretty much says is valid but fails to account for how "life" actually began.

[Ian David]

67. It's unfortunate that academia seems to discriminate against stupid people teaching stupid ideas.n/t

[wmbrew0206]

68. I don't think some of the people they interviewed were stupid

DISCLAIMER : I do not agree with the movie or the views of the people they talked to!

Some of the people the talked to had to be pretty smart to get into and graduate from the universities they went to. One guy was a neurosurgeon and I don't think there are many stupid people qualified to operate on brains. Others defiantly seemed a little whacked out.

[Ian David]

69. I don't think they actually believe their own bullshit if they're not stupid.

I think the smart people know it's bullshit, but they're being dishonest and using it to try and recruit stupid people into their little cults.

[Eric Condon]

38. The fact that it was made in the first place might make a pretty convincing case against evolution.

nt

[MaineDem]

3. Good for her! n/t

[rooboy]

4. Now there's an episode of "Win Ben Stein's Money" I'd like to watch... n/t

[leftchick]

7. hi rooboy!

I haven't seen you in forever. I hope all is well down under. :)

[rooboy]

70. Hey!

I lurk every day, just don't post much these days... :)

[fasttense]

5. I don't blame her.

It's a great song and should not be used by religious fanatics trying to deny reality. I hope she wins what little profit the movie makes.

[trogdor]

15. You go, girl, I say.

I can't say I'm a big fan of Yoko, but I am a big fan of defending John's legacy. Stick it to him good, I say.

[AlbertCat]

18. used by religious fanatics

It's interesting that those who used the song apparently haven't listened to the song all the way thru. Some lyrics:

Imagine there is no heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky

How about:

Imagine there're no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too

They really should listen to the song before they use it....as well as pay for its use.

[kenfrequed]

23. Hmm

Leave it to stealth-fundies and their paid celebrity to not notice the actual lyrics to the song.

[moggie]

52. Apparently you don't know much about this film

Their thesis is, approximately: evolution and atheism are synonymous, and inevitably led to Nazism and the holocaust. The song, complete with the "no religion too" line, is used to illustrate what a terrible world they think denial of religion leads to (they're saying, in effect, "you don't need to imagine a world without religion, because we've seen it, in Auschwitz"). Yes, it's crazy, as well as blowing intelligent design's flimsy claim to not be religiously based, but you wouldn't expect rationality and honesty from creationists, would you?

[LiberalFighter]

20. I rather judge would rule that they have to remove every mention...

of the song whether audio or video (credits). That would require them to do some editing. How much of a hassle would that be for them? LOL

[BlueJazz]

6. Anything that hassles those Religious Idiots is fine with me.

Here in Florida, they won't be happy until they have a Chapel in every classroom.
The Politicians still use the ol' "Evolution is just a Theory" Bullshit to influence the dim-witted voters.

[LiberalFighter]

21. Yet it's okay for absolutely no proof there is a god. Just belief is required.

[Ian David]

8. I hope Yoko Ono Wins Ben Stein's Money! n/t

[Politicalboi]

10. Me too

Ben Stein thinks his shit doesn't stink. From what I've hear his movie does. I hope she gets as much as she wants.

[DRoseDARs]

12. Mmm, gotta love the smell of fresh-brewed snark in the morning! n/t

[polmaven]

24. I'm willing to bet real money

(several cents, anyway) that, if she does win this law suit, any money awarded will be contributed to "green" organizations or to causes promoting the end of war.

[Miss Carly]

65. LOL good one!

Carly

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. Crap. Now I have to like her a little...

Oh well. I'm down with anything that can cause harm to these morons.

I don't have the link handy, but there's a great website debunking the entire movie.

[moggie]

14. That would be "Expelled Exposed"

Here:

http://www.expelledexposed.com/

[keith the dem]

17. Thanks for the great link.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

28. Yes. That's the one.

It's very good.

[Pappy]

16. Hehe, I was thinking the same thing

[polmaven]

25. What is there NOT to like?

:shrug:

[stlsaxman]

26. off topic, sort of- why not like Yoko? John loved her...

and it was Linda Eastman and her father Lee who caused Paul to leave The Beatles...

i've grown to really appreciate, if not love, Yoko. i even had a "Still Pissed At Yoko" bumper sticker on my sax case until i tore it off when John was slain.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

29. Look at my handle...

I live in the Midwest. Yoko doesn't play well in Milwaukee.

[stlsaxman]

32. wow! i never knew she even toured there?!?!

did you see the show? what year was it???

:headbang:

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

59. She was the opening act...

for the 1999 Philip Glass "Pretentious Twit" tour. Yeah. I bought the t-shirt.

[stlsaxman]

62. .

:rofl:

[moggie]

31. Yeah, the breakup was nearly 40 years ago

Let it go (or should that be "let it be"?)

That crossing is just down the road from me, BTW. Still gets a lot of tourists.

[stlsaxman]

33. i could have waved to you if i had known... darn it!

my best friend "Beatle Tracy" took that pic and this one just after-

[TexasBushwhacker]

36. Yeah, I've never really gotten it either

Some bands last for decades, some for years, some for weeks. I don't think anyone can deny they had a good run. Considering the work that each member did post-Beatles, they were on divergent paths, to say the least.

[garthranzz]

37. Great Picture, but to paraphrase Paul

when asked if it was Yoko's fault (while promo-ing his latest album), repeated the question, thought, and then gave a long dismissive, wink and smile, "noooo!" That meant, I think, it was no more her fault than anyone else involved. John was heavily into drugs and anti-War stuff, Paul was heavily into music and "the band," George was heavily into spirituality and emerging as a musician in his own right. Yoko was and is a possessive and controlling person; that doesn't make her a bad person. But she and Paul clashed; try as Paul might to make peace (in the late 60's - see some of his songs and John's comments on them), he was going to lose. The wife/woman wins over the war buddy every time. Paul said as much in an early 80's interview.

Between Lee Eastman and Allen Klein, Eastman was the better manager and man. John, George and Ringo later admitted it was a mistake to hire Klein, who "done them wrong." Lee Eastman would have favored Paul, and given his forceful personality, would not have worked out, even though I think Eastman would have tried "to do right" by the others. Linda kept Paul stable and was instrumental in getting him and John back together, because she calmed him down.

What Paul meant by his "nooo" was that unlike every other group, the Beatles had to break up, because the pressure became too great. They all married, had families, reconciled (well, I don't know if John and George repaired their relationship completely before John was killed, but the others did). If you see the clips from the Anthology in the mid-90's, when they talk about the talk of a reunion, and maybe Sean or Julian taking John's place, Paul says, why would anyone want to do that to them, you begin to realize the pressure they were under. George and Ringo have both made comments that acknowledge the group could not maintain itself. And a reunion would have been a nostalgia act.

I think that had John lived, given where he and Paul were in the early 80's, we would have seen some collaborations - a few real Lennon/McCartney songs on a John album and a few real McCartney/Lennon songs on a Paul album and maybe a collaborative John & Paul together. That would be contingent on Yoko's paranoia, but I suspect that Linda might have been able to ease that - either both women or neither. Ringo would come in for drums. And George would, very, very reluctantly, get in on a song or two. It would be a loose collaboration, but very powerful.

one can only dream.

[stlsaxman]

63. thanks for the insightful post! yeah- it's no good laying blame for the inevitable...

seeing the "Concert For George" a while back it struck me that a "Beatles, Jr." tour would be fun! the line-up might be the musical progeny of the original fab four! let's see, there's....

Zack Starkey currently playing with The Who
Dhani Harrison of thenewno2
Sean Lennon of Cibo Matto and solo works
or Julian (but i think Sean is more musically inclined).

and for Paul...

can anyone think of Paul's kids who write/play music?

[garthranzz]

74. Paul's son James

They've done some work together and I think James will shortly have an album of his own out. He's supposed to be pretty good, but very shy.

I wouldn't wish it on the kids, though.

[stlsaxman]

76. James, huh? Yeah it's just kinda like "fantasy football"...

you know it'd never happen.

i wouldn't wish it on them, either.

[sharesunited]

19. The fundies are actually organizing church field trips

to go see this POS.

That kind of lemming activity made Passion of the Christ a huge commercial success. As though eternal truth can be established through ticket sales.

These people should watch the two-hour Nova episode which explores ID and the Pennsylvania ID-in-the-classroom case.

There's nothing new to see or discuss.

[AlbertCat]

34. Passion of what?????

made Passion of the Christ a huge commercial success

**************

Yeah....and now a COMPLETELY forgotten stupid film. Thank whichever god you want these films don't stand the test of time!

[ptolle]

50. pharyngula

It's worth looking around on the intertubes to find the story about P.Z.Meyers, the proprietor of the pharyngula blog at scienceblogs, being turned away from a screening of this POS but they admitted his companion Richard Dawkins. I guess when you've sorta put your intelligence down for a nap on one thing it's hard to get it alert for another.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

60. Well, not many of them...

It's opening weekend box office was $3 million.

[marshall]

22. Interesting challenge to the fair use doctrine.

I don't think she can challenge their use of the song as long as it stays within the law. It could be precedent setting if she gets a favorable ruling regarding the way fair use stuff is credited.

[Bob3]

40. well fair use is a pretty slippery deal

It really depends on how much of the song they did use. There is also the idea that the use damages John Lennon's brand as it where by implicitly implying that they had permission to use the song and thereby linking John Lennon with this mush wit gibberish.

[melm00se]

43. Bingo

this could, in the long run, backfire if there is a significant change in the definition of fair use.

personal ideology has to take a backseat for the greater good.

[stlsaxman]

27. Go get 'em, Yoko! n/t

:toast: -"Cheers!"

[Froward69]

30. GO Yoko

fair is fair... anybody remember when the religious right claimed "Imagine" was a Blasphemous song?

"and no religion too"

"All the people living life in peace"

[moggie]

35. These people appear to be pathologically dishonest

If their use of "Imagine" were the only issue, it might be just an honest disagreement about "fair use", which AIUI is a deliberately grey area in law. But they also misled The Killers over their use of a Killers song, leading to the band asking for the song to be removed from the film: sadly, too late. They also ripped off XVIVO's animation "The Inner Life of the Cell" - twice! - and were forced to remove that scene before the film's release. But, since the basic premise of the film is itself dishonest, I don't suppose we should be surprised.

[TexasBushwhacker]

41. Ben Stein = Intelligent Design

NOT!

Seriously, I realize the guy has to make a living, but he really hasn't done anything but be a right wing shill for the last 5 years.

[AlphaCentauri]

39. where in the world is Osama Ben Laden is a more attractive movie than expelled

[onehandle]

44. Take every dime they profit, Yoko. Which will be just that. A dime. nt

[P0pEye]

45. Lennon's album ... "Milk & Honey" ...

He was Yoko's Honey, and she milked him for his Money!

:rofl:

[skygazer]

46. Really? How did she do that?

[sharesunited]

47. You're equating Yoko with Heather Mills????

[P0pEye]

61. No, Yoko was a hell of lot more successfull that Mills!

Really, ... I was just joking! I really luv John! PLEASE DON'T REPORT ME!!

You know ... just a l'il joke to ease tension ...

[MaineDem]

51. What makes you say that? n/t

:shrug:

[joeybee12]

48. "That prevail in academic circles"???? Talk about bending over

backwards to make it seem like evolution isn't science but opinion.

[Javaman]

49. as much as I detest stein, if he paid for the use of the song via ASCAP

Yoko doesn't have a leg to stand on.

[Bob3]

54. that's the whole point

they didn't pay - they didn't even ask. we'll see if their fair use defense works - (not very likely since the law is heavily slanted toward the copyright holders) and it really depends - again - on how much of the song they used -

[Javaman]

57. Ahhhh, then that's very different.

You are right, the whole fair use thing really doesn't hold up well in court.

A prime example is, ugh, Vanilla Ice when he ripped off the David Bowie song, "under pressure". Ice claimed that the song was different by one note so their for it was open to fair use and under a different interpretation. The court thought otherwise.

[northzax]

71. not equivalent

the 'ice ice baby' riff was integral to the song. Fair use is a slippery slope. Look at all the siglines on this board that use copyrighted words or imagery. Heck, look at all the threads that are based on snippets of copyrighted material, as long as it is a snippets, and sourced, and used for commentary (even if profit is made) it's not a great idea to ban that, right? Just because you don't happen to like the commentary?

[Randomthought]

53. Spooky sentence at the end

""Expelled" earned the No. 10 spot at the box office this weekend, bringing in nearly $3 million in its first weekend in wide release. Stein, an actor, quiz show host and former speech writer for Presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, has been visiting some state capitals to screen the movie for lawmakers.

[Bob3]

56. well that's trying to spin it

trying to make earning less than 3 million (on over a 1,000 screens) and coming in 10th on the top ten list sound like a good thing.
just to add some persepctive here - Leathereads and Horton Hears a Who earned more than they did that week - and the top grossing film Forbidden Kingdom earn $21 million in the same period.

in short - the puppy is a turkey.

[tallydem]

58. Movie Math

For anyone that’s interested. Having booked films in Florida for years.
It cost a little over 3k to strike each print. On average the film company gets 55% in total return from the box office gross. Independents normally get an even lower rate (as low as 35%).
So a 3 million dollar box office would not even pay for physical media much less advertising and making the film. That is the reason most docs are released on a few dozen screens and then travel around. It is simply too expensive to strike hundreds of prints.

[LongTomH]

55. Sent this link to a couple of my favorite science bloggers.

:kick:

[helas girl]

64. no evolution

The makers of this "documentary" don't believe in evolution because they haven't actually evolved yet.

[Raster]

72. Ben Stein is an idiot. Sue him long, sue him hard!!! Take every dime from the asshole.

[NoodleyAppendage]

73. GOOD. BREAK THEIR BANKROLL, YOKO!!! This is wonderful news!

It's high time we bankrupted the Xtian IDIOTS who wish to surplant science with religous dogma. Fuck 'em.

J

[onager]

75. Quote this one, Ben...

"Magical Misery Tour." A FAIR-USE PARODY from the old National Lampoon.

But it sounds just like Lennon! And all the quotes were taken from Lennon's interview with Rolling Stone, during his "Working Class Hero/Primal Scream Therapy" period...

I resent performing for you fuckers!
Tell me, what do you know?
A lot of faggot middle-class kids
Wearing long hair and trendy clothes.
Look, I'm not your fucking parents
And I'm sick of uptight hippies coming knocking at me door
With a fucking peace symbol
Get this, fuck that, I don't owe you fuckers anything.
And all I've got to say is "Fuck you!"

The sky is blue...

And Mick Jagger
I think that Mick's a joke with all his stupid faggot dancing
I always did.
Wiggling his ass, you know, its just a lot of bullshit.
And where does he come off saying all those tarty things about the Beatles?
When every fucking thing we ever did Mick tried to copy
And you know we even wrote his second fucking record for him
No, the Stones, aren't in the same fucking class as the Beatles,
Either music-wise or power-wise and never ever were.

Pardon me sir...

Paul said he hated Yoko
Tell me, why should Yoko have to take that kind of shit?
Shit from those fucking sons of bitches?
George said she gave off evil vibes,
I should have beat the fucking shit right out of him,
Him with his fucking Hare Krishnas.

Me Auntie she tore up me fucking poems
She just threw the bastards out.
I can't forgive her `cause she didn't treat me like a fucking genius.
Fuck you bastards, I'm a genius!
Like Shakespeare and Beethoven and Van Gogh.
Don't you DARE criticize my work!
"Don't Worry Kyoko" is one of the fucking BEST rock and roll records ever made!
I'm a fucking artist! I'm sensitive as shit!
I throw up before I go on stage! I could make a guitar SPEAK!
If I could be a fisherman, I would, But I CAN'T because I'm a FUCKING GENIUS!

I was the Walrus - Paul wasn't the Walrus!
I was just saying that to be nice, but I was actually the Walrus!

You know that rubbish he's been singing?
EASTMAN WAS AN ANIMAL! A FUCKING STUPID MIDDLE-CLASS PIG!
I WON'T LET FUCKING ANIMALS LIKE THAT NEAR ME!
Yoko is a supreme intellectual!
I'll tell you why nobody likes her music
because she's a woman, and she's Oriental, that's why!

Where are you Mother?
They're trying to crucify me!

Genius is pain, genius is pain,
Genius is pain, genius is PAIN!!
YOKO!!!! MOTHER!!!!
{Fade out on howling and gutteral screaming)

Yoko's voice: The dleam is over.