(AllHipHop News) In what now seems to be a trend in ligation over potential copyright infringement, the GoldieBlox toy company filed a preemptive lawsuit against rap/rock group the Beastie Boys. The company was seeking to avoid being sued by the Beasties for using their song “Girls” in a viral video advertisement. While GoldieBlox agreed to remove the clip, the Beastie Boys have still filed a counter lawsuit against them.
[ALSO READ: Beastie Boys To GoldieBlox: You Use Our Song And Then Sue Us?!!
Billboard is reporting that the Beastie Boys’ surviving members Michael “Mike D” Diamond and Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz and the estate of the late Adam “MCA” Yauch filed a copyright and trademark infringement counterclaim on Tuesday. In the suit, the plaintiffs argue that GoldieBlox have not only illegally used their material but have also taken songs from other artists like Queen and Daft Punk without proper permission.
The claim states:
As part of that systematic campaign of infringement, GoldieBlox has created a series of video advertisements set to well-known songs from popular artists in an effort to achieve the company’s primary goal of selling toys.
Upon information and belief, GoldieBlox has produced and published videos that infringe upon popular songs by Beastie Boys, Queen, Daft Punk, Kaskade, Krewella, Avicii, Slam, k.flay, and Trevor Guthrie.
In some instances, GoldieBlox has altered the lyrics of the popular songs featured in it video advertisements in order to tailor those songs to the company’s goal of selling toys.
GoldieBlox argued in their suit that they were not infringing on the Beastie’s copyrights because their “parody video” falls under fair use. Despite promising to remove the ad, the company apparently refused to end their lawsuit unless the Beasties promised not to pursue their own suit. The band asked that the company apologize and donate money to charity.
GoldieBlox could also be facing a separate lawsuit from Universal Music Group. UMG is the parent company of Def Jam Recordings, the Beastie Boy’s music distributor.
Earlier this year another pre-emptive/counterclaim infringement legal battle took place between Robin Thicke and the family of Marvin Gaye over the song “Blurred Lines.”
[ALSO READ: Marvin Gaye’s Family Files Countersuit Against Robin Thicke & EMI]