After beginning just last Tuesday in New York Federal Court, the Beastie Boys' trial against Monster Energy has ended with the band being awarded a hefty $1.7 million.
The original lawsuit came to be a couple of years ago after the sad death of Beastie Boys member Adam "MCA" Yauch. The energy drink giant opted to use a handful of the band's tunes – "Sabotage," "Pass the Mic," "So What'cha Want," "Make Some Noise" and "Looking Down the Barrel Of a Gun" – in a video promoting the Ruckus in The Rockies snowboarding event along with a last minute shot featuring the words "RIP MCA" on the screen.
And while it was an undoubtedly kind act, the problem is that Yauch had a no advertising clause in his will, which specifically claims that no Beastie Boys music will be used in commercials.
The trial brought the likes of remaining Beastie Boys Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond to the New York court, and was reported to have been quite comical. Multiple outlets, including Music Times, described numerous instances that caused Ad-Rock to literally laugh out loud.
From the very beginning, Monster Energy has taken responsibility for their actions and admits to infringing on the Beasties' work. The main issue for them was the amount the band was asking for – $1 million for infringing on the their song licenses as well as another $1 million for the implied endorsement.
Monster requested the number be knocked down to a mere $125,000. Unfortunately for them, the jurors disagreed. Therefore, roughly $1.7 million was decided.
Sorry, Monster. Looks like the jury was filled with Beastie fans.
