“Megachains Pizza Hut and Home Depot separately denied claims in court in Los Angeles on Thursday and Friday that they ripped off music by the band The Black Keys in TV spots, reports the Associated Press,” according to the International Business Times.
“In June, the garage rock duo issued two individual lawsuits against nation-wide chains Pizza Hut and Home Depot for “prominently featur[ing] significant portions” of their songs in commercials without the band’s permission. According to allegations from Black Keys’ frontman Dan Auerbach and drummer Patrick Carney – who are also being backed up by their producer, Danger Mouse – two songs off of their most recent album “El Camino,” were used improperly: “Lonely Boy” in a Home Depot commercial for power tools, and “Gold On the Ceiling,” in a Pizza Hut advertisement for Cheesy Bites Pizza.
In the complaint, attorneys for the Black Keys refer to the alleged copyright infringement as, “a brazen and improper effort to capitalise on [the] plaintiffs’ hard-earned success,” reported Bloomberg. The band also claimed to have sent letters to each of the companies back in May, a month before slapping them both with suits, requesting that they stop showing the offending commercials on television.”