Walmart has removed a line of Yeezy Foam Runner imitations from their site after Kanye West filed a lawsuit against them.
The US retail giant removed the lookalike shoes online on Friday, as TMZ reports, but they are still listed on third party sites like Etsy.
Walmart previously stressed the product was being sold on the site via a reseller and not the firm itself.
“The product referenced in the complaint is not sold by Walmart, but rather by third party Marketplace sellers,” a Walmart spokesperson told TMZ last week.
“We take allegations like this seriously and are reviewing the claim. We will respond in court as appropriate after we have been served with the complaint.”
Kanye West and Yeezy are suing Walmart over the Foam Runner knock offs pic.twitter.com/fSZnokVe0T
— Craig (@DebatingHipHop_) June 24, 2021
In a lawsuit filed last week, Kanye’s legal team noted they had contacted Walmart and provided photos of the two shoes for comparison.
Official documents said that “Walmart is flagrantly trading off of his and Yeezy brand’s popularity by offering for sale an imitation version of the Yeezy Foam Runner.”
“Walmart’s conduct is harming and will continue to harm, West and Yeezy, leaving them no choice but (to sue) to stop Walmart’s unfair competition and profiting from the popularity of the success of West and Yeezy,” the documents stated.
Kanye’s legal team added that the Yeezy brand is worth “billions” and that the imitation footwear could cause the loss of “hundreds of millions” of dollars.
Shoes on Walmart’s website are advertised as the “Summer beach shoes Foam Runner” and feature various colours. Walmart’s “unauthorised exact copy” has sizes for men, women and children.
The news follows West and Walmart being embroiled in legal troubles earlier this year when the retailer sued the rapper, claiming that his Yeezy logo was too close to their logo, which features ray-like illustrations.
Walmart, which has used the logo in question since 2007, believes West’s Yeezy logo is “likely to cause confusion and lead to consumer deception” [via HipHopDX].
Meanwhile, earlier this month, West’s manager appeared to hint that the rapper is currently working on a new album titled ‘WestDayEver’.
The follow-up record to October 2019’s ‘Jesus Is King’ has been in the works for some time, with West’s much-anticipated ‘Donda’ album failing to materialise as promised back in July 2020.
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