Beastie Boys ready to battle in copyright case over ‘Girls’

Beastie Boys have issued a statement indicating they may pursue legal action against a toy company that used its song “Girls” without permission. The company, GoldieBlox, has already filed a lawsuit against the rappers stating that the video is a parody and protected under the fair use doctrine. Watch the video in question below.

The surviving members of the Beastie Boys responded to GoldieBlox’s lawsuit with an open letter, praising the video’s attempt to empower young woman, but saying: “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.”

The video, which advertises a building toy called “Princess Machine,” has had more than 8 million views on YouTube. “Girls” is a song from the Beastie Boys’ 1986 album, “Licensed to Ill.”
GoldieBlox did change the songs’ lyrics to suit its message. Whereas the original has lines such as “Girls – to do the dishes/ Girls – to clean up my room/ Girls – to do the laundry,” the GoldieBlox video has “Girls – to build the spaceship/ Girls – to code the new app/ Girls – to grow up knowing.”
What do you think? Does this seems like copyright infringement or fair use?
×