Beastie Boys member Adam Horovitz urges on the fans before the New York Knicks play the Boston Celtics in Game 4 of their NBA Eastern Conference playoff basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York April 24, 2011.
The toy company behind the massively popular video advert featuring a group of young girls building a Rube Goldberg machine to a retooled Beastie Boys hit are seeking legal protection after being threatened with copyright infringement by the hip-hop group.
According to an article in Rolling Stone, GoldiBlox filed a suit in a federal court last week seeking “a declaratory judgment that the video falls within fair use.” The “Princess Machine” commercial featuring a parody of the Beastie Boys 1986 classic “Girls” has received more than 8 million views since it was uploaded to Youtube last week.
Goldibox, which specializes in producing creative construction toys for girls, said they filed the suit after the Beasties Boys’ representatives claimed the firm violated copyright laws.
However, the will of deceased Beastie Boy member Adam Yauch’s reportedly “prohibited the use of his music in advertisements after his death.”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UFpe3Up9T_g&w=560&h=315]