Beastie Boys win Monster lawsuit

The Beastie Boys have been awarded more than £1million in damages following a copyright dispute.

The band sued Monster energy drink over the firm’s use of their music in an advertising video, initially seeking $2.5m in damages. Monster Beverage argued the figure should be closer to $125,000, but the New York court ordered it to stump up $1.7m.

Ad-Rock said in the wake of the verdict: “We’re happy. We just want to thank the jury.”

He and bandmate Mike D argued that the music was used without their permission and added that they were respecting the wishes of late Beastie Boys founder MCA, who said in his will that “in no event” should his music be used for advertising purposes.

Monster Beverage said it would be launching an appeal.

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.