The Beastie Boys are suing the parent company of restaurant chain Chili's over alleged unauthorized use of their hit song “Sabotage,” as well as the depiction of characters similar to the band members in the song's iconic music video.
Surviving Beasties Boys members Adam Horovitz (Ad-Rock) and Michael Diamond (Mike D), along with the estate of the late Adam Yauch (MCA), filed a lawsuit against Brinker International on Wednesday (July 10), accusing the company of copyright infringement and trademark infringement.
The lawsuit claims Brinker International used the song “Sabotage” in a social media ad to promote Chili's, and that the ad's imagery mirrored that of the song's music video. lawsuit Says the following:
“At some point unknown to Plaintiffs, but reported to and believed by Plaintiffs to be no earlier than November 2022, Brinker produced, sponsored, and encouraged the creation and posting on social media of videos promoting Brinker’s ‘Chili’s’ restaurants that included musical compositions and sound recordings that were used without the permission of the copyright owners. One such video used, without Plaintiffs’ permission or consent, significant portions of the musical composition and sound recording from ‘Sabotage’ (the ‘Unauthorized Chili’s Video’). Furthermore, Brinker synchronized Plaintiffs’ “Sabotage” sound recording and musical composition with other visual material in Chili’s unauthorized video, in which three characters wearing 1970s-style wigs, fake mustaches, and sunglasses intended to evoke the three Beastie Boys members performed scenes depicting them “stealing” ingredients from a Chili’s restaurant interspersed with fictional opening credits, in ways obviously similar to and intended to evoke in the audience’s minds scenes from Plaintiffs’ well-known official “Sabotage” video. The use of the “Sabotage” sound recording, musical composition, and video was made without permission; Plaintiffs do not license “Sabotage” or any of their other intellectual property for purposes of advertising third-party products, and deceased Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch included a provision in his will prohibiting such uses.
The Beastie Boys are seeking to enjoin Brinker from further infringement, as well as “statutory damages… pursuant to the Copyright Act in an amount in each case not less than $150,000 for willful infringement of the Beastie Boys Musical Composition and the Beastie Boys Sound Recordings or… actual damages with respect to each of the foregoing copyrights as permitted by the Copyright Act, in an amount to be determined at trial.”
In 2014, Beastie Boys won a $1.7 million judgment against Monster Beverage for using the band's music without permission.
Additionally, a provision in Adam Yauch's will prevents the Beastie Boys from using his music to promote third-party products in commercials.
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