When it comes to alleged copyright infringement, it can quickly descend into a head-spinning combination of lawsuits and counter-lawsuits. For the surviving members of The Beastie Boys, however, the situation is more unusual - the band has alleged that they were sued first by a toy company who re-interpreted one of their songs for an advertisement.
It started with an ad by GoldieBlox, who released an ad on the 17th of November for their range of girls' toys. Using a version of Beastie Boys' song Girls - from the band's 1986 debut album Licensed to Ill - with a new musical arrangement and lyrics, the ad challenges the familiar stereotypes used in marketing for girls' toys. It used the tagline "toys for future engineers". You can watch the ad, which has racked up millions of views over the last ten days, below:
However, the band says the company didn't seek their permission to use the song. In fact, according to Paste Magazine, they have vocally vowed their music won't be used for 'commercial purposes', and that late member Adam Yauch's (who died in May 2012) will even contained a clause providing a legal reinforcement to that ideology. It now seems as if a legal battle between the band and GoldieBlox could take place unless an agreement is reached - although the exact timeline behind the dispute is a little unexpected.
In an open letter to the company, the band's Mike-D and the conveniently nicknamed Ad-Rock clarify the situation from their perspective, writing:
”Like many of the millions of people who have seen your toy commercial GoldieBlox, Rube Goldberg & the Beastie Boys, we were very impressed by the creativity and the message behind your ad. We strongly support empowering young girls, breaking down gender stereotypes and igniting a passion for technology and engineering.
As creative as it is, make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product, and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and /or name to be used in product ads. When we tried to simply ask how and why our song Girls had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US."
GoldieBlox, meanwhile, maintain that their version of the song is a fair use parody, "intended to make fun of" The Beastie Boys' original song.
Image: Wikimedia Commons, Creative Commons 2.0
