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Yoko Ono wins lawsuit against Lawrence company

E-mail|Link|Comments () June 30, 2009 08:19 PM

(AP File Photo)

Ono stood by a poster of her late husband in 2003 at the premiere of a new DVD of his work at a London theater.

By Jazmine Ulloa, Globe Correspondent

Ten hours of grainy, black-and-white footage depicting intimate moments of John Lennon and his family at their London estate in 1970 now legally belong to Yoko Ono, who won a copyright battle against a Massachusetts company in federal court last week.

U.S. District Court Judge Rya W. Zobel found the former Beatle's widow was the rightful owner of the rare documentary videotapes Thursday. Zobel refused to overturn her previous decision to dismiss a copyright infringement lawsuit against Ono filed by World Wide Video of Lawrence, which alleged it owned them.

"Our client is very happy," said Ono's lawyer, Jonathan M. Albano of Boston, who declined to comment on whether the videotapes would ever be released publicly in their entirety.

Shot in cinema verite style, the footage captures the famed musician at age 29 and in one of the most creative periods of his life. He had recently written "Instant Karma" and is seen practicing the song "Remember." In the film, he is also seen smoking pot, talking about how he kicked a heroin habit, and joking about spiking Richard Nixon's tea with LSD, according to those who have seen it.

World Wide Video had claimed the tapes were stolen from it and fraudulently sold to Ono without its consent.