GoldieBlox vs. Beasties vs. GoldieBlox, continued

Xeni Jardin 9:54 pm Wed Dec 11, 2013

The Beastie Boys, as photographed in their early days by photographer Glen E. Friedman.

In the New York Times today, Dave Itzkoff reports on the latest wrinkle in the copyright battle between SF tech-toy company GoldieBlox and beloved hip-hop band The Beastie Boys. As reported here on Boing Boing in previous weeks, GoldieBlox used the Beasties' song "Girls" in a viral video that was an ad for its toys. The Beasties objected, though they claim they didn't threaten per se–and GoldieBlox pre-emptively sued the band. Then GoldieBlox kind of backed down. Now, the Beasties have filed a counterclaim.

In court papers filed on Tuesday, lawyers for the Beastie Boys said that a popular online video that was created by the toy company, GoldieBlox, and contained an alternate version of the band’s song “Girls,” constituted “copyright infringement and is not fair use,” turning the band’s music into “a ‘jingle’ to sell GoldieBlox’s products.”

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