Kanye West Sues Walmart For Selling Counterfeit 'Yeezy' Shoes For Cheaper Price; Retail Giant Speaks Out
Kanye West has been a very successful CEO of his fashion brand "Yeezy." It is a known fact that his pieces are sold for hundreds of dollars, and it sold out within hours of launching.
Recently, the Grammy-winning rapper's team had noticed that the retail giant Walmart has been selling counterfeit products of his for a relatively lower price. So today, West is taking legal action to save his business from downfall.
According to court documents obtained by TMZ, West and his brand claim that Walmart has been selling an "unauthorized exact copy" of his "Yeezy Foam Runner" footwear on their website.
It caused significant confusion to customers thinking that they're purchasing an authentic pair.
The rapper's team also claims that the counterfeit products out on the market can result in a major loss in revenue. "Foam Runner" was first teased in 2019 and is not available publicly until June of last year.
This is not the first time the "Famous" hitmaker's legal team had reached out to the retail giant; it has been reported that West had already sent them a legal warning to stop selling the counterfeit shoes, but it is still available until recently.
At the time of this writing, the footwear has been taken down from Walmart's website.
Walmart speaks out
Per the outlet, the retail giant is speaking out and claims that the product sold on their website is not directly produced by them but rather from "third-party Marketplace sellers."
The company's spokesperson stated that they are already investigating the situation and will "respond in court as appropriate after we have been served with the complaint."
Not the first time they copied each other
In early reports, the retail giant filed a notice of opposition against "Yeezy" after noticing significant similarities between their logos.
"Walmart believes the logo design depicted in the Yeezy Application is confusingly similar to Walmart's well-known spark logo design," the company stated in the letter. (via CNN)
Both logos have a design that appears to be a sun. The retail giant's logo was launched in 2007, while "Yeezy" filed documents for the trademark in 2020.
