--- description: The lawsuit was filed against the rappers in 2012 and concerns sample usage on Paul's Boutique title: Beastie Boys Cleared of Copyright Lawsuit image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9944d7983fb26b24/69878533cd1bba398b6f5da0/beastie-boys.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Beastie Boys Cleared in Copyright Lawsuit  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 25, 2015 5:05 PM CUT  Adam Horovitz, Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, Feb. 24, 1987. Adam Horovitz, Mike Diamond and Adam Yauch of the Beastie Boys, Feb. 24, 1987.Ron Galella—WireImage/Getty Images  by [Nolan Feeney](/author/nolan-feeney/)  ## Nolan Feeney Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Mar 25, 2015 5:05 PM CUT Another [high-profile music copyright lawsuit](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/beastie-boys-beat-lawsuit-pauls-784233 "undefined") has come to an end. A New York judge has thrown out a lawsuit from TufAmerica accusing the Beastie Boys of sampling 1980s funk trio Trouble Funk without authorization on 1989’s _Paul’s Boutique_, according to _The Hollywood Reporter_. The judge ruled that TufAmerica, which has sued artists such as Jay Z and LL Cool J over sample usage before, didn’t have the exclusive rights to the two samples in question. After Trouble Funk’s deal with Island Records was terminated, TufAmerica agreed in 1999 to administer copyrights for only two of Trouble Funk’s members; an agreement with the third member was reached in 2012, but the judge ruled that those documents don’t justify TufAmerica’s copyright claim. “Putting aside the issue of whether the 2012 Agreement and 1999 Agreements can be read together, the 2012 Agreement conveys nothing more than the bare right to sue,” the judge wrote. \[[_THR_](http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq/beastie-boys-beat-lawsuit-pauls-784233 "undefined")\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3758152/beastie-boys-copyright/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3758152/beastie-boys-copyright/"},"headline":"Beastie Boys Cleared in Copyright Lawsuit","datePublished":"2015-03-25T17:05:08.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T05:25:56.403Z","description":"The lawsuit was filed in 2012 and concerns sample usage","url":"https://time.com/3758152/beastie-boys-copyright/","keywords":["Music"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9944d7983fb26b24/69878533cd1bba398b6f5da0/beastie-boys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Nolan Feeney","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/nolan-feeney/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9944d7983fb26b24/69878533cd1bba398b6f5da0/beastie-boys.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The 29th Annual GRAMMY Awards","caption":"The 29th Annual GRAMMY Awards","creditText":"Ron Galella—WireImage/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3758152/beastie-boys-copyright/","name":"Beastie Boys Cleared in Copyright Lawsuit"}}]}] ```