DJ Dropped from Dispute Over Use of Beastie Boys Music

A few weeks after uploading the video, Monster got a cease and desist letter from the Beastie Boys' lawyers. Monster edited the video, replacing the soundtrack with music from a group called Swollen Members. That wasn't good enough for the Beastie Boys, who sued for copyright infringement and false advertising.

Monster responded by filing its third-party complaint against Z-Trip. In the complaint, Monster's lawyers at New York's Kane Kessler alleged that the company explicitly asked Z-Trip if he had “any music which would be permissible for Monster to use in connection with the creation of a soundtrack for the Video.” According to Monster, “Z-Trip knowingly, intentionally, expressly and impliedly represented that it was permissible for Monster to use the content of, and the songs on, the Beastie Boys remix.”

But after inspecting e-mails a Monster marketing employee exchanged with Z-Trip, Judge Engelmayer found no merit to the company's claim. “The two conversations and one e-mail exchange between the two men ' short, casual, and vague did not supply a reasonable basis on which Monster, a major corporation, could conclude that it had obtained the necessary license,” the district judge wrote. “It is, in fact, quite unseemly for Monster, rather than taking responsibility for its own lack of care, to argue now that any liability it may have to the Beastie Boys in copyright was somehow a product of a fraud perpetrated by a disc jockey, Z-Trip.”

Jan Wolfe is a Senior Reporter for The American Lawyer, an ALM affiliate of Entertainment Law & Finance.

After the Beastie Boys sued over the unlicensed use of several of the rap group's tracks in a remix on the soundtrack to a promotional video, defendant energy-drink maker Monster Energy Co. tried to shift the blame onto an unsuspecting disc jockey. That tactic didn't sit well with Southern District Judge Paul Engelmayer, who dismissed the DJ from the litigation. Beastie Boys v. Monster Energy Co., 12 Civ. 6065.

In a 24-page ruling, District Judge Engelmayer threw out a third-party complaint Monster brought against Zach Sciacca (a.k.a. Z-Trip), a DJ known for mixing songs into mash-ups. Monster alleged that the only reason it engaged in unauthorized use of the Beastie Boys' music was that Sciacca fraudulently represented that he had authority to grant a license to the songs. Judge Engelmayer called that claim “risible,” in siding with DJ Z-Trip's lawyer Stewart Levy at Eisenberg Tanchum & Levy and the Beasties' lawyers at Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton.

In 2012, Monster sponsored a snowboarding competition in Canada that included an after-party featuring Z-Trip. Monster made a video about its snowboarding festival and posted the video on YouTube. The soundtrack to the video was “Mega-Mix,” a remix of various Beastie Boys songs created by Z-Trip. The Beasties had approved of Z-Trip's use of their songs. The band never signed off on Monster using the music in its video, however, and the company never sought the permission.

A few weeks after uploading the video, Monster got a cease and desist letter from the Beastie Boys' lawyers. Monster edited the video, replacing the soundtrack with music from a group called Swollen Members. That wasn't good enough for the Beastie Boys, who sued for copyright infringement and false advertising.

Monster responded by filing its third-party complaint against Z-Trip. In the complaint, Monster's lawyers at New York's Kane Kessler alleged that the company explicitly asked Z-Trip if he had “any music which would be permissible for Monster to use in connection with the creation of a soundtrack for the Video.” According to Monster, “Z-Trip knowingly, intentionally, expressly and impliedly represented that it was permissible for Monster to use the content of, and the songs on, the Beastie Boys remix.”

But after inspecting e-mails a Monster marketing employee exchanged with Z-Trip, Judge Engelmayer found no merit to the company's claim. “The two conversations and one e-mail exchange between the two men ' short, casual, and vague did not supply a reasonable basis on which Monster, a major corporation, could conclude that it had obtained the necessary license,” the district judge wrote. “It is, in fact, quite unseemly for Monster, rather than taking responsibility for its own lack of care, to argue now that any liability it may have to the Beastie Boys in copyright was somehow a product of a fraud perpetrated by a disc jockey, Z-Trip.”

Jan Wolfe is a Senior Reporter for The American Lawyer, an ALM affiliate of Entertainment Law & Finance.