The world has been talking about a viral video created by Goldie Blox, a California based toy company who make toys that cover the fundamentals of engineering. The video that went viral, shows three girls, cute as can be, that use their typical “girlie” toys to build a Rube Goldberg Machine. The video also features a parody of the Beastie Boys hit single Girls, where all of the words have been changed to show toddler-lib about girls and how they want to become engineers, app developers and astronauts.
The video is now private, after garnering over 8 million views since it’s release. But it isn’t because the Beastie Boys sued GoldieBlox.
After the video’s release, the two remaining Beastie Boys said that they agreed with the theme of the video, they didn’t want Goldie Blox using their song. While some may think the Beastie Boys are just being jerks, that’s actually not the case at all. When the third Beastie Boy, Adam “MCA” Yauch, passed away in May of 2012 he left a will. His will was very clear that he never wanted any of his works to be used for commercial purposes. While the theme of the video is great, the Beastie Boys contend it’s a commercial, in our eyes, content marketing at best.
The specific instructions in Yauch’s will say:
Notwithstanding anything to the contrary, in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes.
The debate stems from the fact that Yauch could only give away what he actually owned and the rights to Girls are owned by the Beastie Boys collectively and their producer Rick Rubin. Also there is some debate on the validity of the instructions because they were handwritten.
With all this in mind, and being informed of this last week, Goldie Blox went to court to preemptively get a ruling that they could use the song in the video.
Forbes looks into the situation and suggests that if it’s a case of copyright infringement it’s clear cut and GoldieBlox probably won’t be able to use the song in the video any longer. However, if it’s not deemed copyright infringement, the judge could very well rule with Goldie Blox.
For now, we need to wait for a ruling to see if the girls will return to the small screen.
Find out more here.
