The widow of “American Sniper” Chris Kyle is suing the Texas law-enforcement-training business he founded, saying that the company has been illegally using Kyle’s image to sell merchandise and training services, the Wall Street Journal reported today. In court papers, lawyers for Taya Kyle said that Craft International LLC continues to use the name of her dead husband — who claimed to be the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history — without her permission. Kyle said that she and her children “have the right to control the use of Chris Kyle’s name, likeness and image” after he was killed on Feb. 2, 2013, on a Texas gun range. Merchandise sales at Craft International, which filed for bankruptcy on May 30, soared after his death, according to documents filed in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Dallas. Half of the company’s $900,000 in revenue last year came from apparel sales; only 13 percent of the company’s $655,000 in revenue came from ammunition and apparel in 2012.
