The Beastie Boys: Toymaker Goldieblox ends lawsuit over "Girls" parody

A Northern California toy company says it has removed its parody of a popular Beastie Boys song from a promotional video that went viral.

GoldieBlox founder Debbie Sterling posted an open letter to the band's surviving members Wednesday saying the company also plans to withdraw a lawsuit it filed for the right to spoof the song "Girls," from the group's 1986 debut album "License to Ill."

   Founding member Adam "MCA" Yauch died in May, 2012 at 47 after a three-year battle with throat cancer. The group's surviving founding members consist of Michael "Mike D" Diamond and Adam "Ad-Rock" Horovitz.  

GoldieBlox filed the lawsuit last week, saying the Beastie Boys threatened their own legal action for copyright infringement.

Sterling says she didn't know the Beastie Boys have a blanket ban on using their songs in advertisements.

GoldieBlox makes engineering toys for girls and tweaked the lyrics of "Girls" to talk about spaceships and software.

The video had spread across the Internet in recent weeks, with more than 8 million views on YouTube.

In their open letter to the toymaker sent out last week, the Beastie Boys wrote that they were "very impressed" by the creativity of GoldieBlox's ad and "strongly support empowering young girls," but argued that ultimately the company's ad crossed a line.

"As creative as it is, make no mistake, your video is an advertisement that is designed to sell a product," the group wrote. "And long ago, we made a conscious decision not to permit our music and/or name to be used in product ads."

"When we tried to simply ask how and why our song 'Girls' had been used in your ad without our permission, YOU sued US."

Formed in 1981 in New York City, the Beastie Boys soared to fame in the mid-80s as one of the first all-white hip-hop acts to find crossover success, with hits like "Fight For Your Right to Party" and "No Sleep Till Brooklyn."