This Is What Happens When Beastie Boys Go to Court

The Beastie Boys are suing Monster Beverage Corp. over using their music in a promotional video posted just days after the death of member Adam Yauch, who specified in his will that his music was never to be used in ads. The case went to trial in New York yesterday, and as Billboard tells it, there were some fairly amusing moments:

• The defense's counsel had to explain the word "dope," noting, "You'll learn during the course of this case that 'dope' ... is a positive affirmation."
• When Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz took the stand, he had to explain what a "single" is, which made him laugh.

But perhaps most amusingly, Horovitz also had to spend time examining and testifying on pictures presented by the defense showing fellow member Michael "Mike D" Diamond wearing a sailor outfit for an ad campaign for watches. The defense, trying to establish that the Beastie Boys have indeed licensed their music for consumer products before, asked Horovitz if the pictures showed his bandmate posing in a sailor suit. "He sure is," said a smiling Horovitz, who tried not to laugh out loud as a huge poster of the sailor picture was presented to the jury. But the case could involve some serious money, notes Reuters; the Beastie Boys want Monster to pony up $2 million. Monster, for its part, thinks it should pay at most $125,000. (More Beastie Boys stories.)