Expelled wins, Yoko loses

NY judge: Film can use John Lennon song

Yoko Ono lost her legal bid Monday to stop the playing of a 15-second excerpt of John Lennon's song "Imagine" in a film challenging the theory of evolution.

Lennon's widow had sued the makers of "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed," saying they used the ex-Beatle's anthem without her permission.

Ono, who had sought a preliminary injunction before the movie gets a wider release, said she would appeal. The other plaintiffs were Lennon's sons, Sean and Julian.

U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein ruled that if the case went to court, the filmmakers would probably win under the fair use doctrine.

"That doctrine provides that the fair use of a copyrighted work for the purposes of criticism and commentary is not an infringement of copyright," Stein wrote in his decision in Manhattan federal court.