When the Beastie Boy Adam Yauch passed away, he had included a clause in his will prohibiting the use of his music, image or any other artistic creation in advertising and the band is working hard to fulfil his last wish.
Not too long ago they reached a settlement with Coldieblox who had used one of their songs without permission and now their legal battle with Monster Energy Drink has reached the US courts. The rap group sued the energy drink company in August 2012 for using their name and intellectual property in internet postings, video and mp3, making it appear to the public like the Beastie Boys had permitted the use and participated in connection with the promotion of Monster’s products and events.
The Beastie Boys states that Monster ‘willfully’ infringed their copyright and are demanding Monster to stop using their likeness and seeks damages of $150,000 for each violation. According to Monster, they had permission to use the work after an email communication reply stating ‘Dope’ when Monster asked what DJ Z-Trip thought of their created video.
It is now up to the court to decide whether ‘Dope’ is to be considered as permission to use the work and, if not, what the damages should amount to as this is what the dispute mostly is about. Beastie Boys demands $2 million consisting of infringement damages for each of the five tracks Monster used and $1 million for the unauthorised implied endorsement. Monster on the other hand is of the opinion that $125,000 is more appropriate.
This article was written by Malin Persson who is on work experience and is currently studying at Southampton Solent University. If you have any questions concerning this article please contact Michael Coyle at info@lawdit.co.uk
Sources:
http://www.musiclawupdates.com/?p=5813
http://www.latinpost.com/articles/13403/20140525/beastie-boys-sues-monster-energy-drink-for-copyright-violations-used-songs-and-likenesses-without-permission.htm
