The Beastie Boys aren’t playing when it comes to their money.
The group is demanding an additional $2.38 million from Monster Energy on top of their original $1.7 million lawsuit against them. The Beastie Boys sued the multi-million dollar company for using one of their songs in the background of a video without permission.
Monster didn’t deny using the song wrongfully, but felt as though they shouldn’t have to pay more than $125,000. Billboard reported that The Beastie Boys didn’t get to see the $1.7 million in the first place because the money was used for legal fees against Monster.
Over the weekend (Jan. 17), a filing was created stating two years of litigation, an eight-day trial and Monster’s efforts to overturn the verdict resulted in a large bill for the group.
“Monster’s tactics significantly increased the costs for Beastie Boys to vindicate their intellectual property rights, such that, absent an award of attorney’s fees and costs, plaintiff’s success at trial would become a Pyrrhic victory,” the filing stated.
The group didn’t just pull the $2.38 million number out of a hat. It will cover the attorney fees ($895,926 spent before the trial, $1.28 spent during the trial, and $200,438). This isn’t the group’s first time with copyright violations. As a group, they decided to never license songs to endorse commercial products. However, in 2013 when GoldieBlox toy company used a parody version of the group’s “Girls” song, the company ultimately took the commercial down.
Photo Credit: Getty Images
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