John Messina

Middlesex County, MA: (Jun-17-07) World Wide Video LLC filed suit against John Messina, after he took private footage tapes of John Lennon in March 2000, and failed to return them after several requests. The lawsuit filed by the company in Middlesex County Superior Court in Massachusetts, alleged that World Wide Video partner Robert Grenier claimed to have met with Messina early in April of that year and, according to court documents, Messina indicated that if he were paid $50,000 together with 2% of the proceeds of any sale of the tapes, he could "put the word out on the street" and could secure the return of the tapes. Messina denied all allegations. The film that had been acquired by Ray Thomas, John Fallon, and Robert Grenier, partners in World Wide Video LLC, was edited down to a two-hour documentary they had intended to debut at Berwick Academy. But the film was canceled the day it was scheduled to be shown after Yoko Ono contacted the school and maintained she had a copyright interest in the footage and had not authorized the viewing. The trio then filed a criminal complaint with the Massachusetts Attorney General's Office alleging that Messina and his lawyer forged their signatures and sold the footage and copyright to Ono. As part of the settlement, Messina agreed to pay the company $15,000, but did not admit guilt to the allegations contained in the lawsuit. [SEA COAST ONLINE: LENNON COPYRIGHT]

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Published on Jun-20-07