--- title: Beastie Boys Goldieblox Lawsuit Ends In Settlement description: The band has come to an agreement with the toy company who parodied their classic hit "Girls" — and the settlement will benefit actual girls canonical: https://time.com/29983/beastie-boys-copyright-goldieblox/ author: Megan Gibson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-19T14:39:25.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T06:50:33.098Z article:section: Entertainment og:title: Beastie Boys settle copyright battle with GoldieBlox og:description: The band has come to an agreement with the toy company who parodied their classic hit "Girls" — and the settlement will benefit actual girls og:url: https://time.com/29983/beastie-boys-copyright-goldieblox/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt212dc4cc9780fcf1/6986861ef983e7ca4504cd14/85988582.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: HBO Films Presents "Grey Gardens" - New York Premiere - After Party og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Beastie Boys settle copyright battle with GoldieBlox twitter:description: The band has come to an agreement with the toy company who parodied their classic hit "Girls" — and the settlement will benefit actual girls twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt212dc4cc9780fcf1/6986861ef983e7ca4504cd14/85988582.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Beastie Boys Settle Copyright Dispute With GoldieBlox by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Mar 19, 2014 2:39 PM UTC  Michael 'Mike D' Diamond, Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz and Adam 'MCA' Yauch of The Beastie Boys attends the after party for HBO films presents "Grey Gardens" New York premiere at the Pierre Hotel on April 14, 2009 in New York City. Michael 'Mike D' Diamond, Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz and Adam 'MCA' Yauch of The Beastie Boys attends the after party for HBO films presents "Grey Gardens" New York premiere at the Pierre Hotel on April 14, 2009 in New York City.Kevin Mazur—WireImage by [Megan Gibson](https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/) ## Megan Gibson Mar 19, 2014 2:39 PM UTC The back and forth legal battle between the Beastie Boys and toy company GoldieBlox has come to an end. The remaining members of the hip-hop group have settled with the Californian company that used the Beastie’s song “Girls” in a parody video ad that went viral; GoldieBlox has agreed to issue an apology and pay a sum to Beastie-approved charities. The whole battle began when GoldieBlox, which specializes in engineering toys for girls, used the song in an ad, though they tweaked the lyrics to fit their girl-empowered brand. (The original lyrics — “Girls to do the dishes / Girls to clean up my room / Girls to do the laundry / Girls and in the bathroom” — were replaced with more girl-friendly lyrics — “Girls to build a spaceship / Girls to code the new app / Girls to grow up knowing / That they can engineer that.”) When the band members Michael Diamond and Adam Horowitz objected to the company’s use of their song, GoldieBlox filed a pre-emptive lawsuit against the Beasties, saying that the company had created a parody of the song, which constituted fair use. The Beasties then wrote an [open letter to the company](http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/25/the-beastie-boys-fight-online-video-parody-of-girls/?%5Fphp=true&%5Ftype=blogs&%5Fr=0), which outlined their objections to the video: --- > “” --- So the Beasties, who have a blanket ban on using their work in advertisements, counter-sued the company. The Beasties’ [suit stated ](http://www.scribd.com/doc/190846300/Beastie-Boys-Response-to-GoldieBlox)that video’s use of the song didn’t constitute fair use as the ad used “the Beastie Boys’ musical composition ‘Girls’ with lyrics modified to become a ‘jingle’ to sell GoldieBlox’s products.” (The Beasties’ suit also noted that their original lyrics were “sarcastic.”) What’s more, late Beastie Boy Adam Yauch’s will included a stipulation that stated “in no event may my image or name or any music or any artistic property created by me be used for advertising purposes,” which only bolstered the band’s complaint. Yet, at last, the whole issue seems to have been resolved. A spokesman for the the toy makers told _Rolling Stone_ that the “settlement includes (a) the issuance of an apology by GoldieBlox, which will be posted on GoldieBlox’s website, and (b) a payment by GoldieBlox, based on a percentage of its revenues, to one or more charities selected by Beastie Boys that support science, technology, engineering and mathematics education for girls.” Chalk it up as a win for both girls and “Girls.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/29983/beastie-boys-copyright-goldieblox/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/29983/beastie-boys-copyright-goldieblox/"},"headline":"Beastie Boys Settle Copyright Dispute With GoldieBlox","datePublished":"2014-03-19T14:39:25.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T06:50:33.098Z","description":"The band has come to an agreement with the toy company who parodied their classic hit \"Girls\" — and the settlement will benefit actual girls","url":"https://time.com/29983/beastie-boys-copyright-goldieblox/","keywords":["girls","Music","Advertising","Parody","Viral video"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt212dc4cc9780fcf1/6986861ef983e7ca4504cd14/85988582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan Gibson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/megan-gibson/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt212dc4cc9780fcf1/6986861ef983e7ca4504cd14/85988582.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"HBO Films Presents \"Grey Gardens\" - New York Premiere - After Party","caption":"HBO Films Presents \"Grey Gardens\" - New York Premiere - After Party","creditText":"Kevin Mazur—WireImage","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/29983/beastie-boys-copyright-goldieblox/","name":"Beastie Boys Settle Copyright Dispute With GoldieBlox"}}]}] ```