Yoko Ono has agreed to pay a feisty Brooklyn designer who accused her of stealing her raunchy fashion designs, according to papers filed in Brooklyn federal court.
Despite initially seeking to toss the Brooklyn federal court case — trashing it as frivolous, Ono has now agreed to pay Haleh Nematzadeh an undisclosed sum of money to make the copycat case vanish.
Both sides signed a confidentiality agreement that prohibits them or their lawyers from disclosing the payoff amount or discussing the settlement.
Nematzadeh claimed in her 2013 civil suit that Ono blatantly ripped off several of her unusual fashion concepts – including placing handprints over the crotch and bosom regions.
The Bushwick fashionista said she met with photographers for Ono’s design company, Opening Ceremony, in 2012 when they were considering her fashions for use in their catalogue.
But Nematzadeh said they abruptly cut her off and then used her “works of art” for Ono’s wacky menswear collection,
Her attorneys initially blasted Nematzadeh’s case, saying “Plaintiffs do not own the exclusive rights to a handprint on the crotch.”
They also said that handprint designs are as old as humanity itself. “Handprint patterns can be traced back to the earliest cave paintings,” they wrote in a court filing.
Ono even claimed that she drew inspiration for the the line from her late husband, Beatle icon John Lennon.
Nematzadeh’s attorney, Aymen Aboushi, did not comment on the case.