Yoko wins lawsuit

Yoko Ono has won her lawsuit to stop a former assistant of John Lennon from further profiting from the late Beatle.

A New York judge ruled Frederic Seaman, who wrote a tell-all book about the star, was bound by a confidentiality agreement.

The decision will prevent him from future exploitation of the Lennon family," said Ono's lawyer Paul LiCalsi.

Judge Leonard Sand made the ruling in chambers on the eve of closing arguments in a trial stemming from Ono's 1999 lawsuit against Seaman, lawyers from both sides say.

The judge found Seaman signed a valid, binding confidentiality agreement when he was hired in 1979, LiCalsi says.

"We respectfully disagree with the judge's decision," said Seaman's lawyer Glenn Wolther. "We believe it violates Mr Seaman's right to free speech."

In her lawsuit, Ono alleged Seaman violated the confidentiality agreement by publishing The Last Days of John Lennon: A Personal Memoir. She also claims he profited by stealing mementoes of the late Beatle and selling them to collectors.

The suit demands Seaman surrender the rights to 374 photos he took of the Lennon family, turn over about £50,000 (€79,000) from the sale of the rock icon's papers and pay unspecified damages.

Seaman contends he is the rightful owner of the photos because he took them on his own time and with his own camera.

Ono and Seaman have feuded since Lennon's murder in 1980 outside his New York home.