Beastie Boys And GoldieBlox Settle Lawsuit Over Use Of ‘Girls’ Song

Rapcore band Beastie Boys has finally settled their battle with the Oakland-based toy company GoldieBlox. The news was reported in the Oakland Tribune, but other details regarding the amount of settle...
Beastie Boys And GoldieBlox Settle Lawsuit Over Use Of ‘Girls’ Song
Written by Val Powell
  • Rapcore band Beastie Boys has finally settled their battle with the Oakland-based toy company GoldieBlox. The news was reported in the Oakland Tribune, but other details regarding the amount of settlement was not disclosed.

    GoldieBlox is geared towards manufacturing construction and engineering toys for girls in order to break stereotypes. In one of their advertisements, Princess Machine, the company used Girls, a Beastie Boys song that was released in 1987. The advertisement went viral last year when it aired during the Super Bowl.

    The band says that they support what the toy company stands for, but they have already decided long ago to have a blanket ban on the use of their songs in any type of advertisement.

    The toy company was the first to sue the band stating that the use of the song was a parody, as the lyrics were changed to suit the commercial. The Beastie Boys then countersued, since they were following the their fellow band member Adam Yauch’s will. A statement in the will says, “in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.”

    GoldieBlox said that they did not know about Yauch’s will and they did not want to be in a legal battle with the Beastie Boys. They then took down the commercial from YouTube. The Beastie Boys also criticized the company for not using original music. GoldieBlox has also used music from other artists, such as Avicii, Daft Punk, and Queen.

    According to a spokesperson from GoldieBlox, the settlement between the two parties include an apology from the toy company on their official website, and a fee that will be given to the Beastie Boys based on the toy company’s revenues. The amount will be donated by the band to various charities that support math, engineering, technology, and science education for girls.

    The Goldie Blox Ad that triggered the lawsuit

    Image via YouTube

    Get the WebProNews newsletter delivered to your inbox

    Get the free daily newsletter read by decision makers

    Subscribe
    Advertise with Us

    Ready to get started?

    Get our media kit