After Thursday’s verdict in the Beastie Boys v. Monster Energy case, Mike D might just do the Smurf, the Popeye and the Jerry Lewis.
A federal jury in Manhattan issued a $1.7 million verdict in the band’s copyright case against Monster Energy, according to Reuters.
The Beastie Boys had sought up to $2.5 million for copyright infringement and false endorsement. Monster stated that it owed no more than $125,000 and called the case “illogical” because an employee believed the company had permission to use the group’s music.
The issue began when Monster hired a mashup DJ named Z-Trip to produce a video for their annual “Ruckus in the Rockies,” a Canadian snowboarding event. Z-Trip compiled a video with images of the snowboarding event using the Beastie Boys songs, “So What’cha Want,” “Sabotage,” “Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun,” and “Make Some Noise,” and finished the video with the words “RIP MCA” for the recently passed Beastie Boy Adam Yauch.