The legal row between toy manufacturer GoldieBlox and the Beastie Boys may have blown over. The company has removed the Beasties’ song ‘Girls’ from its most recent commercial, despite having filed a lawsuit to have it declared as fair use. “We want you to know that when we posted the video, we were completely unaware that the late, great Adam Yauch had requested in his will that the Beastie Boys songs never be used in advertising,” explains GoldieBlox’s CEO in an open letter to the two remaining Beastie Boys. “Although we believe our parody video falls under fair use, we would like to respect his wishes and yours. Since actions speak louder than words, we have already removed the song from our video. In addition, we are ready to stop the lawsuit as long as this means we will no longer be under threat from your legal team.” The ball is in the Beastie Boys’ court, then, but don’t expect any settlement to dampen down the online arguments about the case’s merits, with copyright campaigners of all persuasions enthusiastically kicking lumps out of one another (again) over who’s in the right.
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