Beastie Boys Win $US1.7 Million In Monster Beverage Case

Retired New York City hip-hop legends the Beastie Boys have had a significant victory in their legal battle against Monster Beverage - the group was awarded $US1.7 million ($1.84 million) in a copyright suit over the corporation's unauthorised use of some of their songs in a 2012 promotional video.

The verdict came on Thursday (US time), on the eighth day of trial, and though the final damages are slightly less than the $US2 million the Beastie Boys had originally sought from the company, it is a significantly higher sum than the $US125,000 Monster maintained it should have to pay.

The beverage maker cited as its reasoning that its transgrassion - which it openly admitted to - was the result of an innocent misunderstanding on the part of an employee with regards to whether the organisation had obtained license to use the band's tracks.

According to The Chicago Tribune, member Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz, who with fellow surviving Beastie Michael "Mike D" Diamond provided testimony throughout the trial, hugged his wife, Kathleen Hanna, following the verdict.

"We're happy," Horovitz said. "We just want to thank the jury."

The lawsuit was sparked in 2012 by the release of a promotional video for its annual Ruckus In The Rockies event that used several Beastie Boys tracks -  including So What'cha Want, Sabotage, Looking Down the Barrel of a Gun, and Make Some Noise - without permission.

The video, somewhat controversially, concluded with a screen that read "RIP MCA" - a reference to Beastie Boys founder Adam "MCA" Yauch, who had died the day before after a battle with cancer.