Court Approves Use of 'Imagine' in Ben Stein Film

A federal judge on Monday freed the producers of a movie promoting intelligent design to continue using a 15-second recording of John Lennon's "Imagine."

A New York judge said the makers of Expelled had a right of fair use under copyright law to use a small portion of the work without Yoko Ono's permission. Ono, the wife of the late Beatle, brought the case in April, saying the movie's credits made it appear she had licensed the song to the movie.

Ono, who sued along with Lennon's sons Julian, Sean and EMI Blackwood Music, sought to have the song removed from future releases and the recall of all others.

The show's producers say it examines the scientific community's academic suppression of those who ask provocative questions about the origin and development of life. The movie is narrated by Ben Stein, a well-known actor and writer and consists principally of Stein's interviews with various proponents of intelligent design and defenders of Darwinian evolution.

Yoko Ono wants a judge to imagine a movie challenging the theory of evolution - but without John Lennon's song "Imagine" in it.

The film's distributors are fighting to keep it in - and are urging the judge to act quickly so the movie can yet play a role in the presidential campaign this fall.

The judge was expected to rule as early as this week on the legal battle between Lennon's widow and the makers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed."

Ono sued in state and federal court, accusing the movie's producers of infringing on the song's copyright by using parts without her permission.

The movie, which opened on U.S. screens in April and is set for release in Canada on June 6 and on DVD in October, presents a sympathetic view of intelligent design, the theory that the universe is too complex to be explained by evolution alone.

Thefilmmakers acknowledge they did not ask Ono for permission to use 15 to20 seconds of the song. But they argue they are protected by the "fairuse" doctrine, which permits small parts of a copyrighted work to beused without an author's permission under certain circumstances.