Religion & Law

Imagine That

By John Pieret

The temporary injunction granted to Yoko Ono, Sean Lennon, Julian Lennon and EMI Blackwood Music to prevent further distribution of Expelled has been lifted by Federal Judge Sidney Stein on the grounds that the movie's producers have established that they are likely to prevail on their fair use defense if the case goes to trial.

Ironically, the language of the law is such that the Judge found that the movie's use of "Imagine" "would better serve 'the copyright law's goal of promoting the Progress of Science and useful Arts,'" when the fact is that the whole idea is to impede science through politics ... a goal the producers did not deny:

According to [one] producer, "the film undertakes to inspire viewers to participate in the scientific, political, cultural, and religious debates surrounding this issue, to urge the scientific community to consider views that differ from those held by many members of that community, and to take action to assure that candidates for public office and elected officials take positions and action to accord free speech rights to critics of the adequacy of Darwinian evolution."

Full post as published by Thoughts in a Haystack on June 02, 2008 (boomark / email).