The lawsuit against Monster Energy is heating up.
Anyone following pop culture news of late will have noticed that copyright disputes are kind of The Beastie Boys’ thing of late. Following the GoldieBlox issue last year, in March 2014, the Boys denied Arnold Schwartzenegger’s box office bomb Sabotage the right to use the Boys’ Ill Communication hit of the same name. The reason? Mike D and Ad-Rock were simply honoring the lateAdam "MCA" Yauch's request that the group never lend their music in commercials or ad campaigns.
Allowing the songs to be used commercially would be going again Adam Yaunch's wishes.
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It’s as good a reason as any to turn down excessive amounts of money for absolutely no work. Unfortunately for The Beastie Boys (well, it’s not that unfortunate actually) they are a well loved act and their songs are some of the most recognizable things to come out of the 90s. And this is the unfortunate bit – it looks like not everyone is as polite as Schwarzenegger and willing to just ask.
Arnold Schwarzenegger was quietly denied the right to use the BB's music earlier this year.
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The Sabotage story came to light during The Beastie Boys’ most recent court encounter, a $1 million lawsuit against Monster energy drinks for allegedly using the band’s music in their promo video Ruckus in the Rockies. The lawsuit is still ongoing and a lawyer for the Beastie Boys has now raised the sum to $2 million, according to Reuters.