As of today (November 29), the surviving members of the Beastie Boys have won their battle against toy company, GoldieBlox over the use of a parodied version of their Licensed To Ill record, “Girls.”
According to the New York Times, the San Francisco-based toy company has agreed to take down their video and drop their lawsuit against the Beastie Boys’ Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz if they choose not to pursue any legal action.
“Although we believe our parody video falls under fair use. We would like to respect his wishes and yours,” said GoldieBlox founder Debbie Sterling in an open letter. “Since actions speak louder than words, we have already removed the song from our video. In addition, we are ready to stop the lawsuit as long as this means we will no longer be under threat from your legal team.”
The GoldieBlox video, which features a group of girls putting their own spin on “Girls” by singing about science and engineering, garnered attention earlier in the week when both Diamond and Horovitz penned an open letter to those at GoldieBlox questioning the company over the use of “Girls.”
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The duo gave credit to the company for a creative video and even expressed their support, but also pointed out that the video is an advertisement. Earlier in their career, the Beastie Boys chose not to use their music in product ads, a request that is also echoed in the will of the late Adam Yauch.
“We were very impressed by the creativity and the message behind your ad,” read the letter from Diamond and Horovitz. “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.”
The Beastie Boys have yet to issue a response to GoldieBlox and Sterling’s open letter.
This doesn’t serve as the first time the New York City-based group has had to confront a company over the use of their music in an advertisement. Last year, the Beastie Boys sued Monster Energy Corp. over the unlicensed use of “Sabotage,” “So Whatcha Want,” and “Looking Down The Barrel Of A Gun.”
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