More evidence that Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed may be coming to Canada on June 6: The date apparently came up in court yesterday, as lawyers defended the film against Yoko Ono’s accusation that they had violated her copyright by including a few seconds of John Lennon’s ‘Imagine’ on the soundtrack, and the judge in that case has promised a “fast decision” because of the Canadian release date and other time-sensitive matters.
To quote the Associated Press:
U.S. District Judge Sidney Stein said he will rule quickly in the case after both sides described the issues surrounding the song and movie in harsh terms during arguments on Monday.
Lawyer Anthony T. Falzone said the movie, “Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed,” was set to open in Canada on June 6 and DVD rights needed to be finalized by the end of May for distribution in October. The movie is currently being shown in about 200 theatres in the United States.
He said an adverse ruling by Stein would mean “you have muzzled the speech of my clients” because they would have to replace the song with other images, losing the chance to make the issue important enough that it could even influence the U.S. presidential campaign.
“If you issue that injunction, you trample on these free speech rights and you put a muzzle on them and you do it in a way that stops them from speaking on this political issue leading up to the election,” Falzone said.
Uh, wait a minute … the election? Does anybody seriously think that the battle between Darwinian science and so-called Intelligent Design theory is really going to be a factor in the showdown between Barack Obama and John McCain? Really?
Besides, I repeat what I have said before: Shouldn’t this movie be about the science, and not about partisan politics?
Meanwhile, here is what Yoko’s lawyer said:
Ono has accused the movie’s producers of infringing the song’s copyrights by using portions of it without her permission, giving the impression that the Lennon family had authorized it.
Dorothy M. Weber, a lawyer for Ono, Sean Lennon, Julian Lennon and EMI Blackwood Music Inc., said the makers of the movie “took away their right to stay no.”
She said the defendants – Premise Media Corp. of Dallas, Rampant Films of Sherman Oaks, Calif., and Rocky Mountain Pictures Inc. of Salt Lake City – had obtained authorization for the other songs used in the movie, a point the judge noted himself. . . .
About 20 to 30 seconds of the song are played in the movie.
Falzone said the portion of the song – “nothing to kill or die for, and no religion too” – was central to the movie.
“What they are criticizing here, your honour, is they’re saying that happy, naive feeling you get when you hear the song and think about peace and children and play is dangerous, dangerously naive.”
Falzone said the movie suggests “that this absence of religion paves the way for fascism, totalitarianism, Nazism.”
“Really, what the film is doing is, it’s asking if John Lennon was right and it’s concluding he was wrong,” the lawyer said.
He said the movie makers did not believe they needed to ask Ono’s permission to use a portion of the song because it was not the entire song or enough of it to infringe on the copyright.
“Why would you ask somebody for permission to criticize their work?” he asked. “It’s not likely it’s going to be granted.”
Indeed. In general, I would take the filmmakers’ side on this one, to the extent that I think people should be free to comment on songs and films like this. But I also think the movie’s discussion of religion, and the accompanying attempt to portray atheists as fascist nihilists, is a huge, huge red herring in a movie that is supposed to be about competing scientific theories.
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