Legal

California retailers got another rap on the knuckles in February when the state Supreme Court decided that requesting ZIP codes is a violation of a 40-year-old credit card law. According to some legal analysts, however, the ruling by the Golden State’s highest court may not be the last word on the subject: The opinion may be too broad, leaving the door open to different interpretations and exceptions.

Major League Baseball is in St. Louis, telling Cardinal fans to watch out for counterfeit merchandise. But why should fans even care if a sale has baseball's stamp of approval? 

Something very interesting happened to Urban Outfitters' website: all 21 of the company's products that had been called "Navajo" vanished. At least at first glance. 

O.co (also known as Overstock.com) announced victory in its two-year patent infringement lawsuit with behemoth Alcatel-Lucent USA, Inc. The eastern Texas jury deliberated for less than two hours before returning a defense verdict. The jury found that O.co and co-defendant Newegg did not infringe any of the three patents Alcatel asserted against them.

Wal-Mart said Ed Chan, president of its China operations, quit as the company grapples with a pork labeling probe that shut all 13 of its stores in Chongqing and led to the detention of at least 27 people.

After Chinese newspaper Global Times published an open letter from employees at a Shenzhen Gucci flagship detailing complaints about working conditions — including rules dictating that employees request permission before using the bathroom or drinking water — the luxury Italian fashion house has initiated an investigation into local mismanagement.

The Gap wants Kim Kardashian's lawsuit over an advertisement that featured a look-alike to be thrown away. The reality TV star sued in July over an Old Navy commercial that showed an actress that purportedly looked like Kardashian singing her love of bargain-basement jeans.

Urban Outfitters has been busy capitalizing on Native American culture with items such as the "Navajo Hipster Panty." Apparently, these types of products were enough to warrant a cease and desist letter. According to Sasha Houston Brown, Urban Outfitters has already received such a notice from the Navajo Nation Attorney General, who also doesn't seem too keen on things like a Navajo-print flask.

Copycatting another designer's ideas never turns out well. Especially when that designer often lends you nice jewelry. Because as Kim Kardashian learned recently, that designer will take away all those nice, free jewels and bad-mouth you to the press. 

The disconnect between how executives and consumer privacy advocates view email marketing was never more obvious than during the latest hijinks surrounding Barnes & Noble's acquisition of Borders' customer data, including email addresses. As part of the Borders bankruptcy proceedings, Barnes & Noble paid $13.9 million for Borders' intellectual property, including its 48-million customer database.