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| Wikimedia Commons / Michael Morel |
In a
complaint filed this week in Manhattan federal court, the Beastie Boys accused California-based Monster Beverage of using their music without permission in
several promotional videos for Monster Energy Drink.
The iconic
rap group alleges that its distinctive music was used in a video promoting
Monster Energy Drink's "Ruckus in the Rockies 2012" and that the video text even
uses the group's name as well as the name of the late Adam "MCA"
Yauch.
Yauch’s recently filed
will may play a role in explaining why the band’s surviving
members filed the lawsuit.
Leaving
his $6.4 million estate to his wife and daughter, Yauch explicitly forbid the
commercial license of his music, writing that “in no event may my image or name
or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising
purposes.”
