Beastie Boys awarded $1.7 million from Monster copyright case

The jury for the Beastie Boys copyright case against Monster Beverage Corp awarded the band $1.7 million on Thursday.

Michael Diamond and Adam Horovitz argued that Monster used their music without permission in a 2012 video and the federal jury agreed. According to Reuters, Monster tried to argue that the music was used by mistake after an employee thought it was OK to use.

The beverage company plans to appeal the ruling saying that the case was "illogical" and at most they should have to pay the Beastie Boys $125,000. The band asked for $2.5 million in damages in the lawsuit.

Horovitz, aka Ad-Rock, hugged his wife Kathleen Hanna and said, "We just want to thank the jury."

The trial began in late May and both surviving members of the Beastie Boys took the stand to testify over the illegal use of their song and how they were denied the ability to say no to Monster.

As previously reported, the commercial appeared only in Canada and used five different tracks. The commercial even had a quick "RIP MCA" message that appeared at the end.

image courtesy INFphoto.com

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