Beastie Boys sue Chili’s owner for copyright infringement over use of “Sabotage” in ads

Beastie Boys have sued Brinker International, Chili’s parent company, for copyright infringement. In a suit filed in New York federal court on Wednesday (7/10), they say that Chili’s used “significant portions of the musical composition and sound recording” of their 1994 hit “Sabotage” in an ad on social media without their permission. They also say that the ad features “three characters wearing obvious 70s-style wigs, fake mustaches, and sunglasses who were intended to evoke the three members of Beastie Boys,” and that they “performed scenes depicting them ‘robbing’ ingredients from a Chili’s restaurant intercut with fictitious opening credits, in ways obviously similar to and intended to evoke in the minds of the public scenes from Plaintiff’s well-known official ‘Sabotage’ video.”

The suit continues that Beastie Boys “do not license ‘Sabotage’ or any of their other intellectual property for third-party product advertising purposes,” pointing out out that the late Adam Yauch “included a provision in his will prohibiting such uses.” They also write that by using the song and “unauthorized video impersonations of Diamond, Horovitz and Yauch to promote Brinker’s Chili’s restaurants, the public was confused into believing that plaintiffs sponsored, endorsed and are associated with” Chili’s.

Beastie Boys are seeking $150,000 in damages and for Brinker to take down the ads.

Spike Jonze directed the iconic “Sabotage” video, which you can watch below.

Beastie Boys allowed “Sabotage” to be used in an official ad for Joe Biden in 2020.

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