YOKO ONO - YOKO ONO DROPS COPYRIGHT SUIT AGAINST DOCUMENTARY MAKERS

Yoko Ono and EMI Records have dropped a lawsuit against documentary-makers who used a portion of John Lennon's song Imagine without permission.

Premise Media's documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, concerning the theory of intelligent design, used a 15-second clip of Imagine, sparking the legal row.

But Ono and EMI have now dropped their claims of copyright infringement after the New York Supreme Court denied a motion to prevent future showings of film.

"The right to use copyrighted material to criticise it is essential to free speech and public debate, and that's what was at stake here," said Anthony Falzone, executive director of Stanford Law School's Fair Use Project and lead counsel on the case.

"We think it was clear from the beginning that our clients had every right to use the Imagine clip as they did, and we're happy we've vindicated that right."

The claims were rejected by federal and state courts earlier this year.

Ono told the Wall Street Journal newspaper in June that the dismissal of the case "weakens the rights of all copyright owners".