Despite the toy company GoldieBlox pulling the song from their ad, retracting their preemptive lawsuit, and apologizing, the Beastie Boys are going ahead with their suit against the company.
As we reported earlier, GoldieBlox used the Beastie Boys track “Girls” in an ad under what they thought was the “fair use” law. The ad sought to encourage young girls to pursue their interests in science. When the surviving Beastie Boys members informed the company that what they did violated the late Adam Yauch’s final will, GoldieBlox attempted to rectify the situation.
GoldieBlox’ attempts haven’t been good enough. The Boys’ lawsuit reads:
GoldieBlox achieved and continues to achieve additional publicity, press coverage and upon information and belief, greater sales of its products, as a direct result of the Beastie Boys’ perceived affiliation with the GoldieBlox Advertisement. Unfortunately, rather than developing an original advertising campaign to inspire its customers to create and innovate, GoldieBlox has instead developed an advertising campaign that condones and encourages stealing from others.
You can read the full lawsuit at www.scribd.com
Personally, I think the original ad using “Girls” was a parody and thus falls under the fair use law, but I suppose the Beasties are within their rights to take legal action. I just don’t think it’s a battle worth fighting at this point, as it makes the Beastie Boys out as the villains. Even if GoldieBlox’ use of the song was “intentional and willful” as the Beasties are claiming, I don’t think that they’ll continue to suffer damages as a result of the usage and copyright infringement — they’ll continue to suffer damages by pursuing this legal action.
What are your thoughts? Post them in the comments section below.
Rock Hard \m/
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