Originally demanding more $2.4 million from Monster Energy drink to cover legal fees, the groups' surviving members Ad Rock and Mike D have been awarded $668,000.
- Jun 17, 2015
AceShowbiz - Beastie Boys is getting more money from Monster Energy drink. After winning a $1.7 million copyright lawsuit against the company last year, the group's surviving members Adam "Ad Rock" Horovitz and Michael "Mike D" Diamond have just been awarded another $668,000 in legal fees.
Beastie Boys sued Monster Energy drink back in 2012 for using some of their song in an ad without permission. Earlier this year, they filed a motion asking the company to pay additional $2.4 million to cover legal fees and cost in the case.
"Monster's tactics significantly increased the costs for Beastie Boys to vindicate their intellectual property rights, such that, absent an award of attorney's fees and costs, plaintiff's success at trial would become a Pyrrhic victory," their lawyers argued at that time.
A federal judge in New York wrote of Ad Rock and Mike D's legal bills in a ruling on Monday, June 15, "Beastie Boys opted to pay for, and received, the Cadillac Escalade, not the Honda Civic."
"It was the Beastie Boys' prerogative to commission or approve such staffing," the judge added. "But the issue for this court is whether it is reasonable to shift the resulting fees to Monster, their adversary. And there is ample authority ... for reducing a fee award where the legal hours recorded by plaintiffs' counsel fell unusually heavily on partners with high hourly rates."
