Beastie Boys appear in court over Monster energy drink copyright breach

The Beastie Boys have appeared in court to testify against energy drink company Monster, after their music was used in an advert without permission.

The group are suing Monster for around £1.2 million, as a result of a 2012 promotional video using a Beastie Boys song despite the band being against using their music for advertising.

Adam 'Ad-Rock' Horovitz said that the band would never license songs to endorse commercial products.

Monster admitted it had infringed the copyright, but insisted that it was a mistake, as "an employee thought permission to use the music had been granted."

The group had made their stance especially clear following the death of bandmember Adam Yauch in 2012, whose will explicitly forbade the use of his music or image in any advertising.

Monster's lawyer, Reid Kahn said awarding the band £1.2 million was "illogical". He instead suggested that the company should pay £74,000 at the most to cover the five weeks that the video, which was promoting a snowboarding competition sponsored by Monster, was online.

Horovitz is expected to return to the stand on Wednesday.