Legal

A Milwakee court has ruled in favor of Harley-Davidson in protecting the brand from the manufacture and sale of unauthorized merchandise through unauthorized distribution channels.

French luxury brand Louis Vuitton has filed a lawsuit against Warner Bros. over the use of a Louis Vuitton knockoff bag in "The Hangover: Part II." According to the suit, filed in U.S. District Court in New York on Thursday, an airport scene in the film makes use of a counterfeit bag made by a company named Diophy, which is currently being sued by Louis Vuitton for trademark infringement.

An economic recovery that stubbornly refused to gain traction made 2011 a virtual repeat of 2010 when it came to the number of retail bankruptcies: 18 chains filed for Chapter 11 protection or its equivalent this year, compared to 19 in 2010.

Reebok got itself into a heap of trouble with the Federal Trade Commission when it put out an ad campaign that claimed the design of its EasyTone and RunTone shoes help give anyone who wears them better muscle tone than anyone who wears other shoes.

Patent licensing company Round Rock Research has filed suit in Delaware Federal District Court against nine retailers: PepsiCo, J.C. Penney, Hanesbrands, The Gap, Fruit of the Loom, Dole Food Company, American Apparel, Macy's and V.F. Corporation (the owner of Wrangler, Lee, and Nautica and other brands). The defendants allegedly infringed five patents held by Round Rock relating to radio frequency identification technology (RFID), which is used to track merchandise.

Several brands sold and endorsed by the Kardashian family, including the upscale K-Dash by Kardashian, QVC's Kris Jenner Kollection and ShoeDazzle, are made in areas of China where government regulations are often ignored and workers are subject to inhumane conditions.

Following Mike "The Situation" Sorrentino's lawsuit against Abercrombie & Fitch, his pint-sized reality TV cohort, Nicole "Snooki" Polizzi, has found herself in her own legal entanglement. Polizzi is being sued for $7 million by licensing company SRG Ventures, which claims that it entered a business partnership for a variety of Snooki-related merchandise.

Borders won court approval of the final details of its plans to dissolve. The bankruptcy judge finalized terms of creditor repayments after five remaining objections were resolved.

American Apparel, a clothing manufacturer employing thousands of workers at its production facility in Los Angeles and at retail stores around the country, will pay $60,000 and furnish other relief to settle a disability discrimination lawsuit filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC), the federal agency announced today.

Listed at the very top of the Top 10 Lobbying Victories of 2011 from The Hill newspaper is the National Retail Federation’s campaign to block last-minute efforts by the banking industry to delay debit card swipe fee reforms. While swipe fee reform was a crucial win for retailers, NRF’s legislative victories spanned a wide scope of issues.