Yoko in court to block ‘awesome’ Lennon footage

FOOTAGE of John Lennon smoking pot, writing songs and discussing putting the drug LSD in President Richard Nixon’s tea is the focus of a court case starting in Boston next week over whether the video should be made public.

The case pits Lennon’s widow, Yoko Ono, against Massachusetts-based World Wide Video, which claims ownership of nine hours of raw footage of the former Beatle and Ono that was filmed just weeks before the band’s 1970 break-up.

World Wide, a New England consortium of Beatles collectors, wants to release the footage as a two-hour film titled “3 Days in the Life” about Lennon during a pivotal and turbulent time for the band.

Rolling Stone magazine dubbed it “awesome John Lennon footage you might never see”.

The company, which paid more than $1 million (€630,000) for the footage after legal costs and other expenses, nearly premiered it last year at the private Berwick Academy in Maine but abruptly scrapped the screening after the school received a stop order from Ono’s lawyers, who assert copyright ownership of the videotapes.

World Wide has filed a suit in US District Court in Boston against Ono for copyright infringement. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Wednesday.