Beastie Boys sued by company that took their song without clearance...

[GaryG]

An aggressively worded lawsuit... part of which attacking the {satirically} sexist nature of the original

But was it? Considering the other antics they were up to at the time and later voicing of regrets about that stage of their career, I don't think we (or they TBH) can now say it's retrospectively 'satirical'. If it appears a misogynistic piece of crap then their intent is kind of irrelevant.

The only guys not paid, or at least asked permission, were the guys that wrote it.

Even that's open to debate...

https://soundcloud.com/itshard2bgod/bea ... y-brothers

[osiris]

I don't know. To me it's a little reaching, just like that Gaye family/ Thicke lawsuit. I heard the song. If someone hadn't have said it was 'like' a BB song, I wouldn't have known.
Same thing with the Gaye/Thicke lawsuit. You gonna sue someone over a cowbell??
PS: This isn't a multimillion dollar company, it's a tiny startup, who's now famous (and rich)because of all the publicity from this.

[robogone]

An aggressively worded lawsuit... part of which attacking the {satirically} sexist nature of the original

But was it? Considering the other antics they were up to at the time and later voicing of regrets about that stage of their career, I don't think we (or they TBH) can now say it's retrospectively 'satirical'. If it appears a misogynistic piece of crap then their intent is kind of irrelevant.

I don't know that's the intent though - I think at the bottom of it all is the decision to never use their material to sell products. I'm assuming that any court case is going to revolve around whether or not the toy manufacturer can prove that their version is a parody at the end of the day.

[GaryG]

I'm not commenting on the legal side at all, I think this piece ( http://waxy.org/2013/11/goldieblox_and_the_three_mcs/ ) is pretty good, illustrates just what a minefield it is for the pros, never mind the legal geniuses at Kvr.

But, yeah, fair use seems to be the crux of any argument.

[osiris]

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/201311 ... care.shtml



And I wonder if they asked the makers of SPAM for permission???

[dusted william]

I like their new version much better.

[OzWozEre]

They gotta fight
For their right
to royaltiiieeesss....

since they don't make music anymore. Seriously, this was a parody, still the company at least should've asked permission.

ya, but it's not about royalties. like some others have mentioned - the guys are already obscenely wealthy anyway. They just don't want their music used for advertising, for a commercial product especially. Period.

We'll have to see how the legal experts handle it, but I don't agree that the fair use aspect of doing a parody still stands when it's an advert for a commercial product.

Good for them, I hope they crush the company too. Plus the toys the company make are shit, in fact it only seems to be one toy at the moment - and it still panders to girl stereotypes like pink and pageants etc.

Yeah, I really hope those really wealthy guys, who didn't give a crap about copyright when they could profit off it, get to crush that small startup trying to make educational toys for girls. That's the way it should be.

in the heady days of sampling and the golden era of hip hop, the heady days of pre-broadband-internetz-&-mp3 even, the heady days of astronomical record sales, yes it's true... quite some musicians ended up rich by creating their music in part by sampling other music. It's true. Those was some crazy times, eh ?

That's not quite in the same spirit as taking someone's music to flog some cheap tat. I'll join you in whipping the beastie boys from the sidelines when they sue some talented up & coming musician for sampling or parodying their shit. Until then, I'm happy to see the adorable start-up crushed like some fleeing pedestrian extra in the 'Intergalactic' Godzilla city-fight-scene parody video {oh the irony}, by the Beastie Boys In no small part because the Beastie Boys were quite amicable in how they contacted the start-up, being complimentary and pleasant but simply stating their concerns re: advertising. Reply ? An aggressively worded lawsuit... part of which attacking the {satirically} sexist nature of the original as a justification of their actions. Lame...


But yes, lets not side with the millionaires. Lets side with the people vying to be millionaires themselves

+1

This pretty much sums up my views perfectly.

I'll also add that I raged hard when the EFF[1] started to get involved in a very condescending manner talking about how this is nothing but fair use yadda yadda yadda...

Fair use my arse -- this is brand building w/ a heavy dose of faux-little-guy gorilla marketing...

They can f**k right off.



[1] https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/11/b ... se-lawsuit

[robogone]

Besides which, I would be really surprised if *ANY* company was completely unaware of the stance that the Beastie Boys have taken with their music.

This can't come as any kind of surprise to the company - maybe their intention is to court controversy?

[whyterabbyt]

Besides which, I would be really surprised if *ANY* company was completely unaware of the stance that the Beastie Boys have taken with their music.

I hadnt. OTOH, I'd be really surprised if anyone in hip-hop as long as TBB had never heard of the 2 Live Crew case, which is the benchmark for parody as fair use.

[osiris]

Yeah,that's what I smell. Especially since it was the company who sued them. I wonder how they heard about it? Because I don't think anyone had heard of Goldieblox before this.
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2 ... isruption/

That link above has the best overview of this company and what it's done. Seems Queen was also a victim (don't know if they asked/paid for that either.
This one goes to the BB....

[whyterabbyt]

That link above has the best overview of this company and what it's done.

well, yeah, if 'best' equates to 'contains the least legal analysis, and the most intrinsically prejudiced'. He's sure got a big generalised beef against Silicon Valley and Stanford, doesnt he.

[robogone]

Besides which, I would be really surprised if *ANY* company was completely unaware of the stance that the Beastie Boys have taken with their music.

I hadnt. OTOH, I'd be really surprised if anyone in hip-hop as long as TBB had never heard of the 2 Live Crew case, which is the benchmark for parody as fair use.

I was more thinking in terms of a company (plus the attorneys which they obviously have) getting through planning and implementation without a single mention of the BB's public stance, and I don't know if this is clear cut parody. Seems arguable at least, and no doubt would be if this ends up in court.

[osiris]

No. About this company's marketing tactics...

[mn]

http://blog.goldieblox.com/2013/11/our- ... stie-boys/

[Sparky77]

The problem with normal is it always gets worse.