Photo from “The Princess Machine” video that parodied “Girls” by the Beastie Boys.
Toy company GoldieBlox offered a public apology to the Beastie Boys this week, just after settling a lawsuit with the music group over using their hit song “Girls” in one of their ads.
“We sincerely apologize for any negative impact our actions have had on the Beastie Boys,” the company posted on their website. “We never intended to cast the band in a negative light and we regret putting them in a position to defend themselves when they had done nothing wrong.”
GoldieBlox’s legal troubles began when they altered the lyrics of the popular Beastie Boys tune to market the “Princess Machine,” a tech savvy toy encouraging girls to study science and technology. When the Beastie Boys accused the company of copyright infringement, GoldieBlox turned around and sued, saying their parody was protected under the fair use law.
Both parties exchanged relatively friendly letters, in which both groups expressed support for the goals of the other but made clear their litigious intentions. However, The band was not amused, nor were they taking the lawsuit lightly.
GoldieBlox exposes girls to engineering at a young age.
“Make no mistake: Your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads,” the band said in a statement. “When we tried to simply ask how and why our song ‘Girls’ had been used in your ad without our permission, you sued us.”
The Beastie Boys then filed a counter-suit, stating that GoldieBlox “condones and encourages stealing from others.”
As part of the settlement GoldieBlox will be giving an undisclosed amount, based on a percentage of their revenues, to a charity or charities of the Beastie Boys’ choice that support/s science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls. They were also required to put an apology on their website.
