December 30, 2016
The rap group Run-DMC (click here) filed a $50 million lawsuit in New York accusing Wal-Mart, Amazon, Jet and other retailers of selling products that traded on the group's name without permission.
A founder of the group and owner of the Run-DMC brand, Darryl "DMC" McDaniels, was listed as the plaintiff in the lawsuit, which was filed Thursday in the Southern District of New York.
The complaint said the defendants are "advertising, selling, manufacturing, promoting and distributing multiple products" in the group's trademarked name. The products include glasses, hats, t-shirts, patches, wallets and other items.
The lawsuit alleged that the retailers have improperly profited, diluted and harmed the Run-DMC brand, which it said has generated more than $100 million in revenue since its inception in the 1980s.
Run-DMC was founded in New York in 1981 by McDaniels, Joseph "Run" Simmons, Darryl "DMC" and Jason "Jam Master Jay" Mizell, who was fatally shot in his Queens recording studio in 2002....
