San Fran court upholds Beastie Boys' license to ill.

And now from the neverending file of Jewsrock-related lawsuits: Remember the Beastie Boy's track "Pass the Mic" from 1992's Check Your Head? That flute sample is from "Choir," a solo flute composition by a jazz and classical flutist named James Newton. Six seconds of Newton's music is looped 40 times through "Pass the Mic,' and while the Beastie Boys did license the loop from the record company, they didn't get permission from Newton to use his composition. Newton filed suit in 2000, claiming that the Beastie Boys should have known that they needed to contact him along with his record company. He lost, but filed an appeal, which was just shot down: according to Yahoo News, the 9th Court of Appeals in San Francisco has declined to hear the case. Meanwhile, the Beasties are still involved in a legal mess with the Sugar Hill Gang, who sued them last Decemberfor using samples from "Rapper's Delight" on To the 5 Boroughs.