Yoko Ono Tries To Kill Off Lennon
Hi! Thanks for visiting Unreality Music! If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to our RSS feed for regular updates.
Funny story of the week (if it wasn’t true) is Yoko Ono trying to stop a singer called Lennon Murphy from using her name to record under. Murphy has used the name Lennon for her Metal band since before 2000.
You all know I’m anti-Beatles, and that extends to the widow of the most overrated man in pop. All that hippie propaganda about making love and not war. Oh, I love the sentiment, I’m a bit of a hippy myself.
But isn’t it funny that Yoko, who was so instrumental in that movement, is so trigger happy when it comes to litigation? She doesn’t mind fighting wars in the courtroom, especially when it comes to any perceived loss of earnings from John Lennon’s estate.
It’s actions like this that rape the legacy of bands like The Beatles and artists like John Lennon. All those iconic images are laid to waste when the same people who represented those values of the 60s and 70s are now lawyer-happy millionaires. I can’t help thinking that if John Lennon was alive today, he might also have lapsed into a saggy faced litigation fiend.
As for Lennon Murphy, she writes eloquently and emotionally about what the name means to her and the effect the case is having on her.
In 2000 Arista Records addressed the issue of Yoko Ono potentially having a problem with our use of the name. My product manager at Arista was ironically the son of the lawyer who actually represents Yoko. So he approached Yoko, to make her aware of the use, evidently giving her blessing as Arista proceeded forward with the album release and at the same time filing for the trademark. Its takes time for all of the legal work to go through, but finally in 2003 I was granted by the United States Patent & Trademark office the ownership in the name Lennon for musical use.
One of the main claims in the proceedings is that Murphy has caused damage to the John Lennon name. That’s funny, I’d have thought Yoko Ono was doing that well enough by herself.
Update: Julian Lennon has reposted Lennon’s MySpace blog post on his pages and comments that “I feel for her & know the situation well…she has my full support”.
Bookmark & Share »
February 14th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Dear Friends
A musician named Lennon Murphy is claiming that Yoko Ono has sued her and that Yoko is seeking to stop Lennon Murphy from performing under her name, Lennon Murphy. Both of these claims are untrue.
Several years ago, Lennon Murphy sought Yoko’s permission to do her performances under her name, Lennon Murphy. Yoko, of course, did not object to her request. Subsequently, without Yoko’s knowledge, Lennon Murphy filed an application in the United States trademark Office requesting the exclusive right to utilize the name “Lennon” for musical performances. Yoko’s attorneys asked Lennon Murphy’s attorneys and manager to withdraw her registration of exclusivity to the name LENNON for the trademark. Yoko also offered to cover all costs Lennon Murphy had incurred in filing for the trademark. But Lennon Murphy went ahead to register.
Yoko did not sue Lennon Murphy, but sought to stop her from getting the exclusive right to the name Lennon for performance purposes. For that, Yoko’s attorneys, simply notified the Trademark office that Yoko did not believe it was fair that Ms. Murphy be granted the exclusive right to the “Lennon” trademark in relation to musical and entertainment services. As you can see, this is a very important issue for Yoko and the Lennon family.
Yoko says: “I am really hurt if people thought that I told a young artist to not use her own name in her performances and had sought to sue her. I did no such thing. I hope this allegation will be cleared.”
Thank you for your kind attention,
Yoko