Beastie Boys and GoldiBlox Settle; GoldiBlox "Apologizes"

I've followed the copyright infringement battle between seminal rap group the Beastie Boys and upstart toy manufacturer GoldiBlox with great interest. (And not just because my close friend Brett Doar is the evil genius behind "The Princess Machine" in GoldiBlox's video, but also Rube Goldberg contraptions in the video for OK GO's song "It Too Shall Pass" and a host of others.)

As with all infringement cases, despite the fact that intellectual property is governed by law, the details can make a muddle of the situation. I won't rehash what I've written about this already (which you can check out here and here) but I wanted to point out this great piece by AdAge media columnist Simon Dumenco.

In it, Dumenco points out that as part of the settlement reached earlier, GoldiBlox was to apologize to the Beastie Boys. Yet befitting their combative stance throughout this standoff, they found a way to make that apology less than adequate.