A $1.7 Million Mistake

Jurors awarded the Beastie Boys $1.7 Million for Monster Energy’s use of the band’s songs in a promotional video that aired in 2012. The video – for a Canadian snowboarding competition – used portions of two songs, “Sabotage” and “Make Some Noise.” The Beastie Boys sought at least $2 million in damages, asserting that the video’s use of copyrighted works was “absolutely egregious.” The band argued that Monster Energy wanted to benefit from the coolness associated with the Beastie Boys.

Monster Energy acknowledged that it infringed on the band’s copyrights but argued that the infringement was a mistake. An employee at Monster Energy thought that the company had permission to use the Beastie Boys songs. Monster Energy asserted that there was no “insidious corporate conspiracy” and that the band should get no more than $125,000.

Monster Energy plans to appeal the jury’s decision.

Sources: http://www.mtv.com/news/1691549/beastie-boys-sues-monster-energy-copyright-infringement/ http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/06/04/us-beastieboys-monster-bev-idUSKBN0EF2BK20140604 http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2014/06/05/319256224/beastie-boys-win-a-fight-for-their-copyright?ft=1&f=1001

For more information on this topic, please visit our copyright litigation service page.

Klemchuk LLP is an Intellectual Property (IP), Technology, Internet, and Business law firm located in Dallas, TX.  The firm offers comprehensive legal services including litigation and enforcement of all forms of IP as well as registration and licensing of patents, trademarks, trade dress, and copyrights.  The firm also provides a wide range of technology, Internet, e-commerce, and business services including business planning, formation, and financing, mergers and acquisitions, business litigation, data privacy, and domain name dispute resolution.  Additional information about the IP law firm and its IP law attorneys may be found at www.klemchuk.com.

Klemchuk LLP hosts Culture Counts, a blog devoted to the discussion of law firm culture and corporate core values with frequent topics about positive work environment, conscious capitalism, entrepreneurial management, positive workplace culture, workplace productivity, and corporate core values.