More Beatles related litigation, and Yoko Ono has suddenly taken offence at US singer Lennon Murphy performing under the name Lennon.
Ms Murphy was named after Yoko's late husband, and has performed under just her first name for some eight years, in 2003 successfully registering it as a trademark. Murphy claims her people consulted Yoko early on in her career about performing under the name even though, given it's her legal name, she probably didn't need to. Ono seemingly made no objection at the time, but, according to TMZ.com, is now claiming Murphy's use of the name is a "tarnishment" of John Lennon's name and that Murphy "fraudulently" registered the name as a trademark. Ono has reportedly issued legal papers in relation to the matter.
In a posting on her MySpace called 'Getting Sued By Yoko', Murphy writes: "In 2000 [her former label] 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".
"Eight long hard years pass and no one says a word. Just two days before the statue of limitations was up this very same lawyer we went to in 2000 filed their complaint accusing me of falsely representing myself and causing confusion in the market place that has damaged to the John Lennon name. I'm not sure what confusion I could be causing since I don't have the $50,000 to hire a lawyer and fight this. If people were confusing me with John Lennon and accidentally buying my records I should have more than enough money to live my life and hire a lawyer? I wish that was the case".
No word yet from the Ono camp on the lawsuit, though word has it Julian Lennon, John's son by his first marriage, has said he doesn't see a problem with Murphy using the Lennon name.