Though remaining Beastie Boys members Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz announced that they would likely disband the group following the 2012 death of Adam “MCA” Yauch, their legacy continues to be fought over in court. This Tuesday, their copyright case against Monster Energy Drink is set to go before a New York judge, with Horovitz set to testify at the hearing.
It is well-known that in his will, Yauch stipulated that his music not be used in advertising, a stance in line with the one Beastie Boys had taken over the years. The group allege that, in 2012, Monster used their likenesses to promote a festival called Ruckus In The Rockies, and also used a handful of the their songs, including ‘Sabotage’, in a free promotional video and downloadable mix prior to the event.
Beastie Boys’ suit alleges that the energy drink company infringed on their copyrights “with a willful disregard of the harm to” the group, and did so “maliciously, and oppressively” in the days immediately following Yauch’s death. They will reportedly be seeking damages $150,000 for each violation, and at this point, it seems unlikely that they’ll let the matter …. DROP.
The group have only recently settled a similar suit with toy company GoldieBlox, who used an unauthorised, altered version of Beastie Boys 1986 track ‘Girls’ in a toy commercial. GoldieBlox claimed that their use of the song was a parody, but in March, they settled, and agreed to donate $1 million to a charity supporting science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls.
