Fighting for their rights: Beastie Boys sue Chili’s for using ‘Sabotage’ in ad without permission
Fighting for their rights. The Beastie Boys are suing the owner of Chili’s for using their song “Sabotage” in social media ads.
The hip-hop and rock group filed a complaint in Manhattan federal court accusing Chili’s owner Brinker of copyright infringement and unfair competition from using significant portions of the 1994 track without a license.
“Use of the ‘Sabotage’ sound recording, music composition and video was all without permission,” the group’s attorneys wrote in the lawsuit on Wednesday, obtained by The Post. “The plaintiffs do not license ‘Sabotage’ or any of their other intellectual property for third-party product advertising purposes, and deceased Beastie Boys member Adam Yauch included a provision in his will prohibiting such uses.”
Yauch’s estate, Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz are all listed as plaintiffs in the suit. Yauch died of cancer on May 4, 2012. He was 47.
The band is accusing Brinker of creating a Chili’s social media ad in 2022 using parts of the song with three people wearing 1970’s-style disguises while stealing ingredients from one of the chain restaurants.
The Beastie Boys, who formed in 1981, debuted a very similar Spike Jonze-directed music video for “Sabotage” in 1994 following the release of their album, “III Communication.”
“The video has proven tremendously popular with the public. The official music video for ‘Sabotage’ has been viewed 131 million times on YouTube, while other posted live and other performances have been viewed tens of millions of times more. Notwithstanding their wigs, mustaches and sunglasses, the band and its individual members have become widely identified with and are widely recognized for their portrayals in the ‘Sabotage’ video,” the complaint states.
The Beastie Boys are asking for at least $150,000 in damages and a permanent injunction order blocking Brinker from using their music.
Additionally, they want the ad to be removed “from all places where they have been stored and/or made available by or through Brinker or reposted by any third party, and destruction of any and all copies of the Unauthorized Chili’s Video.”
The band has gone to court before over their music. In 2014, they won $1.7 million in a copyright violation case against the maker of Monster Energy drink.
The company used their music in a 2012 video promoting an annual snowboarding competition it sponsors in Canada called “Ruckus in the Rockies.”
The Beastie Boys initially sought up to $2.5 million for copyright infringement and false endorsement, per Reuters. Monster called the case “illogical” and countered that it owed no more than $125,000, claiming an employee mistakenly believed the company had permission to use the music.
“We’re happy,” Horovitz said after the conclusion of the hearing at the time. “We just want to thank the jury.”
