Yoko Ono sues Lennon Murpy for being named as her husband

Posted by Geo

February 13, 2008

John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono has suddenly decided to sue US singer Lennon Murphy for performing under the name Lennon.

Murphy, who has been performing under the name Lennon for eight years, was named after Ono’s late husband, and former Beatle singer, John Lennon.

According to TMZ.com, Murphy even successfully registered the stagename as a trademark in 2003 - consulting Ono early on in her career about using it to perform under even though, as it’s her legal name, she didn’t need to.

Ono apparently made no objection at the time but is now stating that Murphy “fraudulently” registered the name as a trademark.

She also added that Murphy’s use of late husband John Lennon’s name is “tarnishment” towards the deceased member.

Julian Lennon, son of the former Beatle and his first wife, has posted a statement from Murphy on hisMySpace stating he doesn’t have a problem with the singer using his father’s name.

Above the posting he states: “She has my full support.”

On February 12, 2008, Yoko Ono filed a complaint against Lennon’s use of her own name.[1] Lennon reported on her own MySpace page that she is being sued by Ono to cease use of the “Lennon” name. The news turned up because Julian Lennon picked up a letter from Murphy and published it. Lennon wrote on Feb. 8: “Yesterday I received notice that Yoko Ono had filed a lawsuit 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 bulls***.” Lennon says in her letter that in 2003, her Arista product manager was Justin Shukat, the son of Ono’s longtime attorney Peter Shukat.

Lennon says Justin went to his father and Ono “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. Its [sic] takes time for all of the legal work to go through, but finally in 2003 I was granted by the United States Patent & Trademark office the ownership in the name Lennon for musical use.

“Eight long, hard years pass and no one says a word. Just two days before the statute of limitations was up this very same lawyer we went to in 2000 filed their complaint. It accuses me of falsely representing myself and causing confusion in the market place that has damaged … the John Lennon name.”

Lennon Anne Murphy, named after rock and roll legend John Lennon [1], is a singer/songwriter from Hendersonville, Tennessee, United States. Born in Ronkonkoma, Long Island, New York on March 31, 1982, Lennon and her mother moved to Hendersonville when she was four years old. Lennon began playing piano at a young age and performed her first gig in front of people when she was fifteen.

One day, Lennon came home after school to find her mother, her only parent, dead in her closet from an allergic reaction to some pills she had taken. This was just a few days after Lennon’s eighteenth birthday and just before she signed with Arista records.

Still Lennon prevailed, fighting for custody of her younger sister Mariella (which she eventually won) and releasing her debut album, 5:30 Saturday Morning, on the historic date of September 11, 2001. Her only single from that album was a song called “Brake of your Car”. Lennon ended up leaving Arista because, “I wanted a career as a rock act, and an album I could be proud of, and staying with Arista I really didn’t see that happening,”.

In 2004, Lennon released 2 albums and a DVD. One album is a strictly acoustic release entitled Career Suicide, released on September 24, 2004. It was just Lennon and her piano, which makes sense since Lennon has said, “I write on piano, which I’ve been playing all my life”. Most songs were remakes of songs from 5:30 Saturday Morning but the new ones were also well received. On December 27, 2004, she released another album entitled I Am. She also released a DVD entitled My Crazy Life. She released them all independently on John Galt Entertainment, a record label she founded with her manager.

On September 5, 2006, Lennon kicked off a tour opening for Aerosmith and Mötley Crüe to support the September 19, 2006 release of her album Damaged Goods. The lead single is the track Where Do I Fit In?, which is a revamp of the track My Beautiful from her Arista debut. While on tour, she is also headlining gigs at local clubs along the way. Often those who hold tickets for the Aerosmith/Mötley Crüe show in the area can get into the smaller venue to see Lennon for free.

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