Run-DMC sues Wal-Mart, Amazon for $50M

Darryl McDaniels of Run-DMC performs at Christmas in Brooklyn on Dec. 9, 2014. The rap group Run-DMC has 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. The suit was filed on Dec. 29, 2016. | Scott Roth/Invision/AP, file

NEW YORK — The rap group Run-DMC has 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.

The group says the defendants are utilizing its name in the “production, advertising, promotion, marketing, sale and distribution of various products, including glasses, t-shirts and patches.”

It says the retailers have improperly profited, diluted and harmed the Run-DMC brand, which it says has generated more than $100 million in revenue since its inception in the 1980s.

The suit was filed in the Southern District of New York on Thursday.

Run-DMC was founded in New York in 1981 by Joseph “Run” Simmons, Darryl “DMC” McDaniels and Jason “Jam Master Jay” Mizell.

Amazon and Wal-Mart, which also owns Jet, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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