GIRLS video, STEM, and the Beasties Boys - updated [video]

So this story about copyright and intellectual rights has gotten so complicated (and I'm not an lawyer). It will be very interesting to watch. 
Originally I wrote this at my art site @ facebook, Robinart

As an artist, I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, I think artists should be financially compensated for their works. However, the Beastie Boys have for YEARS been sampling other folks' works. So, my gut feeling is that this response is in poor taste, especially because this great video (which I shared earlier last week) is supporting educational engineering learning materials (aka toys) for girls in a wonderful and clever way. AND IT'S PARODY. Geez. (Of course, any publicity is good publicity, right?)

(I'm now reconsidering that "any publicity" aspect, but I would think they will still sell more copies of their music, though I would wonder about the longterm backwash vs. a temporary bump in sales)

• EFF's article  
• More at Boing Boing 
• More at Forbes 
• More at the NYTimes
• Yet more (and a breakdown of the issues)

I do think the GoldieBlox girls video is very clever and a fun way to highlight traditional toys for girls while promoting the need for girls (why do we have to have gendered toys, anyhow?) toys which encourage the use of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) skills. I hope the message doesn't get lost in this hoopla over rights because the message is extremely important. ...and for those of you who know me, you know that I actually support STE(A)M more because I do not believe there can be art without the STEM aspect. We need the arts everywhere.