Beastie Boys are suing the father or mother firm of restaurant chain Chili’s for the alleged unauthorized use of their hit “Sabotage,” in addition to the depiction of characters much like the band members’ likenesses within the track’s iconic music video.
Surviving Beasties Boys members Adam Horovitz (Advert-Rock) and Michael Diamond (Mike D), together with the property of the late Adam Yauch (MCA), filed a swimsuit in opposition to Brinker Worldwide on Wednesday (July tenth), accusing the corporate of copyright infringement and trademark violations.
The lawsuit claims that Brinker Worldwide used the track “Sabotage” in a social media advert to advertise Chili’s, and that the visuals within the advert mirrored these of the track’s music video. An excerpt from the lawsuit reads as follows:
“Commencing at a while unknown to plaintiffs however, they’re knowledgeable and consider, no sooner than November 2022, Brinker produced, sponsored, and inspired the creation and posting on social media of movies to advertise Brinker’s ‘Chili’s’ eating places that included musical compositions and sound recordings that had been used with out the permission of the rights homeowners. One such video used, with out Plaintiffs’ permission or consent, vital parts of the musical composition and sound recording of ‘Sabotage’ (the ‘Unauthorized Chili’s Video’). Additional, Brinker synchronized Plaintiffs’ ‘Sabotage’ musical composition and sound recording with different visible materials within the Unauthorized Chili’s Video, through which three characters sporting apparent 70s-style wigs, pretend mustaches, and sun shades who had been meant to evoke the three members of Beastie Boys carried out scenes depicting them ‘robbing’ substances from a Chili’s restaurant intercut with fictitious opening credit, in methods clearly much like and meant to evoke within the minds of the general public scenes from Plaintiff’s well-known Official ‘Sabotage’ video. Use of the ‘Sabotage’ sound recording, music composition and video was all with out permission; the plaintiffs don’t license ‘Sabotage’ or any of their different mental property for third-party product promoting functions, and deceased Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch included a provision in his will prohibiting such makes use of.”
The Beasties are searching for to dam Brinker from any additional infringements, in addition to “an award of statutory damages … pursuant to the Copyright Act in an quantity in every case of not lower than $150,000 for the willful infringement of the Beastie Boys Musical Composition, and the Beastie Boys Sound Recordings or … precise damages and earnings with respect to every of the foregoing copyrights as permitted underneath the Copyright Act, in an quantity to be decided at trial.”
Again in 2014, Beastie Boys received a $1.7 million judgement in opposition to Monster Beverage for utilizing the band’s music with out permission.
Moreover, a provision in Adam Yauch’s will prevents the Beasties from utilizing any of their music to advertise any third-party merchandise in commercials.