A Beastie Boys rapper says the legendary hip-hop group would never license songs to endorse commercial products.
Adam “Ad-Rock” Horovitz testified in federal court in Manhattan. He was called as the first witness in a lawsuit the group filed against Monster Energy Company, a beverage maker. The lawsuit claims copyright infringement and unfair competition and seeks more than US$2 million (NZ$2.33m) in damages.
A lawyer for the Corona, California-based company told the jury that Monster Energy “technically did violate the copyright.”
But the attorney, S Reid Kahn, said the company should only owe the band between US$93,000 and US$125,000 for five weeks when the video was online. He said the video had fewer than 14,000 views.
Horovitz is to return to the stand tomorrow.
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– AP
