Monster Beverage Corporation (NASDAQ:MNST) (“Monster”) issued the
following statement in response to media and other inquiries relating to
the lawsuit against Monster Energy Company (“Monster”) by the Beastie
Boys.
Monster has no intention of litigating this matter in the media, but
since the case has now received publicity we felt we should let the
public know the facts as we see them. Monster in good faith believed it
had obtained the rights to use a compilation of certain Beastie Boys
music for an Internet video. The video recounted a snowboarding event in
Canada that Monster sponsored where the after party featured many
Beastie Boys songs played by the DJs in honor of the recent death of one
of the Beastie Boys’ members. The music that Monster used was provided
by one of the DJs, who told Monster he had permission. When Monster was
notified by the Beastie Boys that the company was mistaken in its belief
that it had the proper authorization, Monster immediately removed the
video from the Internet. The video received less than 14,000 views
during the brief period it was online. This lawsuit is solely about
what, if anything, Monster must pay to the Beastie Boys because of
Monster’s good faith mistake. In Monster’s view the Beastie Boys are
demanding sums that are far beyond any reasonable fair market value.
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