John Lennon’s widow Yoko Ono has launched a legal bid to stop a video company from airing footage of the late Beatle smoking pot.

The nine-hour clip - owned by Massachusetts-based World Wide Video - also shows Lennon discussing putting the hallucinogenic drug LSD in former U.S. President Richard Nixon’s tea.

World Wide Video claim 24 raw tapes showing three days in Lennon’s life in February 1970 - weeks prior to the Beatles’ breakup - do not belong to Ono and is suing her for copyright infringement.

Ono - who currently has the tapes - is trying to ban the video from the public domain. Joseph Doyle, World Wide Video’s lawyer says, "The decision that should be made in the case is who in fact does have the copyright. We’re saying that we legitimately own the copyright to this film."

The company, which paid more than $1 million for the footage almost premiered it last year, but it scrapped the screening after an order from Ono’s legal team. The case will be heard on April 30.