Yoko Ono Sues Musician Over the Use of the Name "Lennon"
John Lennon's widow, Yoko Ono, believes that she has some kind of claim over the name "Lennon". Lennon Murphy, a heavy metal musician, has been contacted by Yoko's attorneys, and was ordered to stop using the name or face legal ramifications.
Yoko Ono claims that the singer is using her husband's name in an exploitative manner to intentionally confuse people and boost sales of her CD. Lennon, on the other hand, says that she dropped the surname Murphy eight years ago because it is her father's name and means nothing to her. Which leaves her with just one name to go by - Lennon, her birth name. Both Lennon's band and debut CD, which until recently were on the Arista record label, were named "Lennon."
This past week, Yoko filed a complaint with the Trademark and Trial Board of the U.S. Patent & Trademark office. She waited over eight years until just two days before the statue of limitations was due to run out to file the complaint.
According to several lawyers who have spoken with media outlets, including trademark experts, Yoko has absolutely no grounds for the claims and is merely attempting to push around Lennon to make her spend money she doesn't have.
Yoko Ono's objective here is to gain the rights to the trademark "Lennon", which Lennon Murphy has owned since 2003. In other words, it sounds like sour grapes on Yoko's part - she's annoyed that she didn't think of trademarking it first.
Furthermore, Lennon Murphy sais that her record label ran concerns about the trademark infringement past Yoko and her attorneys eight years ago, when she first dropped her surname. Lennon claims that at that time, Yoko expressed no problems with it.
John Lennon's oldest son, Julian Lennon, has come out and spoken in support of Lennon Murphy, and against his stepmother. In a blog post on his MySpace account entitled "Sad but True & interesting", Julian writes "I feel for her & know the situation well," and says that she has his "full support." In an earlier version of the post, which has since been edited, Julian described some of his own legal run-ins with Yoko and said that if "she could have stopped me from working using my own legal name, she would have."
It appears that Ono may
It appears that Ono may lose:
http://www.iptrademarkattorney.com/2008/02/trademark_lawsuit_yoko_ono_can.html
Lennon Murphy
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
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