In today’s digital age, social media can provide instant results to marketing campaigns, sometimes creating explosive overnight success in ways that would have seemed like science fiction a generation ago. One recent topic sending social media users atwitter involves creating controversial parodies of popular brands’ intellectual property. For example, GoldieBlox, Coinye and Dumb Starbucks recently enjoyed media firestorms due in part to the fascination around the legality of parody IP use. These cases have sparked interesting debates over the protected scope of parodies and how IP owners protect their property rights.

To promote its Princess Machine toy, GoldieBlox Inc., a company dedicated to “disrupting the pink aisle” and creating toys that introduce girls to engineering at a young age, released a YouTube advertisement in mid-November 2013 featuring a reworked version of the Beastie Boys’ song “Girls” with forward-thinking, female-empowering lyrics. In its first week on YouTube, the video went viral, receiving more than eight million views. On November 21, GoldieBlox filed a declaratory judgment action asserting that its version of “Girls” was protected from copyright infringement under the doctrine of “fair use.” After GoldieBlox dropped its action in early December, the Beastie Boys filed an infringement complaint against GoldieBlox. The parties settled their dispute in March 2014.

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