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Yoko sues "Lennon"
Posted by Xeni Jardin, February 12, 2008 4:56 PM | permalink
Yoko Ono, widow of former Beatles member John Lennon, is suing singer-songwriter (and Suicide Girl) Lennon Murphy for alleged "tarnishment" of John Lennon's name.

Ms. Murphy's band is called Lennon, and she is attempting to register that band name as a trademark.

Here's a PDF of the court papers, here's a snip from Lennon Murphy's response on her MySpace page.

Getting Sued by Yoko
Current mood: angry
Category: Music

Yesterday I received notice that Yoko Ono had filed a law suit against me, asking for a cancellation of the trademark that I own for the name "Lennon." This could very well mean the career that I have worked so hard at, the one you all have believed in, may come to an end. I wanted to address the situation to all my fans because without you I am nothing and it's not fair to everyone who has believed in my music not to be properly informed of this pure bullshit.

When I first started playing music at 14, I was known for the most part as "The Lennon Murphy Band". Not a name I was very fond of, no one could ever agree on anything so it made sense. A few months later some of the shows started being marketed using my full name as well as some that just using "Lennon." There was never really any consistancy but there was well enough to justify stating that "Lennon" had been used in fact since 1997. When I signed with Arista Records in 2000 at the age of 18, a marketing decision was made to continue being known just as Lennon. In all honesty, I didn't care. I was just happy to sign a record deal, make an album, and pay my bills.

Lennon is my first name by birth and I am regualarly asked if I was named after the Beatle, having always replied no. My mother named me after "John Lennon that wrote songs, painted, and baked bread with his son". She named me for the man, not the pop star.

Coverage links: TMZ, Fox, NME.

Julian Lennon, who is the son of John Lennon (and the former Beatle's first wife, Cynthia) also responded to the situation on his MySpace page. He's totally cool with the singer using her name, which also happens to be his father’s name, and says "She has My full support."

Yoko, I don't think John would approve of your action.

If your suit had any merit, Shouldn't you also be suing Julian and Sean?

Maybe she ought to go through the US census rolls and sue every single person named Lennon, first OR last name.

Yoko, you stupid, dried up old hag! It's time for you to fade away!

Ms. Ono tells Boing Boing today that the reports (from Fox, NME, TMZ, and others) she was suing Ms. Murphy are untrue

-- she just didn't want Murphy to seek an exclusive trademark on "Lennon."

Yoko Ono (yes, really) writes:

Dear Xeni,

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."

Well, that's a whole different ball of wax.

Lennon Murphy is who should be ashamed then.

(She sure got a bit of publicity out of it. In fact, Lennon Murphy's own blog at MySpace was the origination of this story.)

Sorry Yoko.

would anyone out there still buying CDs even know who John Lennon was?