Following the lawsuit settlement, GoldieBlox have posted a public apology to Beastie Boys on their website. The suit stemmed from the feminist toy company improperly using the bands 1987 song "Girls" in one of their ads.
"We sincerely apologize for any negative impact our actions have had on the Beastie Boys," the company said. "We never intended to cast the band in a negative light and we regret putting them in a position to defend themselves when they had done nothing wrong."
GoldieBlox admitted that, in hindsight, they should have gone through the proper process to secure rights to use the song before putting it in their ad for the "Princess Machine." However, even had they went through the proper channels, they would not have likely been given permission as the late Adam Yauch's will stated that "in no even may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes."
"We know this is only one of the many mistakes we're bound to make as we grow our business," the posted in small print at the bottom of the statement, "The great thing about mistakes is how much you can learn from them."
Part of the settlement also requires the company to give a percentage of their earnings to "one or more charities selected by Beastie Boys that support science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls."
The battle began in November 2013, when GoldieBox preemptively took the Beastie Boys to court, declaring fair use of the track in their viral video. The band wrote an open letter clarifying that they were the ones being sued and not the other way around. The company then wrote an open letter of its own and pulled the song from the ad. But the band, who had a strict no-licensing policy per the request of the late Adam Yauch, countersued the toy company for copyright and trademark infringement, unfair competition and misappropriation of publicity rights.
The band did, however, give support to the company's message of empowerment to young girls, but stressed: "Make no mistake: Your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product and long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads. When we tried to simply ask how and why our song 'Girls' had been used in your ad without our permission, you sued us."
Read the full apology letter from GoldieBlox (via Rolling Stone) below:
We sincerely apologize for any negative impact our actions have had on the Beastie Boys. We never intended to cast the band in a negative light and we regret putting them in a position to defend themselves when they had done nothing wrong.
As engineers and builders of intellectual property, we understand an artist's desire to have his or her work treated with respect. We should have reached out to the band before using their music in the video.
We know this is only one of the many mistakes we're bound to make as we grow our business. The great thing about mistakes is how much you can learn from them. As trying as this experience was, we have learned a valuable lesson. From now on, we will secure the proper rights and permissions in advance of any promotions, and we advise any other young company to do the same.
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