Beastie Boys Sue Monster Energy Drink for Copyright Infringement
That didn’t take long. Yesterday (Aug. 9), late Beastie Boys rapper Adam ‘MCA’ Yauch‘s last will and testiment was publicly revealed to contain a clause banning his music being used in any advertisements, and now E! reports that Mike D, Ad-Rock and the estate of the late Yauch sued Monster Energy Corp. on Tuesday for copyright infringement.
The Beasties accused Monster of trying to create “an association” with the trio and its music by using several of their best-known hits — including ‘Sabotage,’ ‘So Whatcha Want,’ ‘Brass Monkey,’ ‘Paul Revere’ and numerous other tunes named in the complaint — in a promotional campaign without properly licensing them. Specifically, they point to a video promoting the 2012 Ruckus in the Rockies festival and claim that it is “comprised substantially of excerpts from the Beastie Boys Sound Recordings and the Beastie Boys Musical Compositions totaling more than three minutes in duration.”
The suit continues: “The text accompanying Monster’s Internet postings, video and MP3 conveyed to consumers the impression that Beastie Boys permitted the use of their name and intellectual property, and participated in connection with Monster’s promotion of its products and events.”
The Beastie Boys, of course, did not actually permit such use, and are suing for alleged copyright infringement and various other intellectual property violations. They seek unspecified damages.