Legal

Sears is in an active push to lease surplus space to other retailers. Its real estate division has listed on its website some 4,000 of its namesake and Kmart stores that have space for other merchants or retail operations to lease. According to a report, Sears has secured two lease deals, one with Western Athletic Clubs for 69,000 sq. ft. of a 273,000-sq.-ft. Sears store in Cupertino, Calif.

Arts and crafts chain Michaels has agreed to pay $1.8 million in penalties after the New York state Attorney General’s office accused the company of using deceptive advertising practices to disguise regular prices as sales discounts.

Two privately owned stores in Queens, N.Y., accused of peddling unauthorized Apple accessories have agreed to surrender any fake products in their inventories, according to a proposed settlement registered in federal court in Brooklyn.

Barnes & Noble has bought some of Borders’ intellectual property along with other bidders. According to Hilco Trading, the liquidation company handling the sale, multiple bidders, including Barnes & Noble, have agreed to buy $15.8 million of Borders' intellectual property, Craine’s said.

Now that California and Amazon have called a truce of sorts in their tax fight, what will become of the 10,000 affiliates caught in the middle that were unceremoniously booted from online marketing affiliate programs? Chances are they should be making a comeback.

Hundreds of Groupon sales department employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company charging it failed to pay overtime. The suit demands back wages for the past three years plus punitive damages for nonpayment of overtime.

French fashion brand Lacoste has asked Norwegian police to ban mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik from wearing its clothes during court appearances. His choice of clothes has been described as a nightmare for the French company's exclusive image.

Amazon cut a tentative deal with legislative leaders that would allow it to postpone collecting sales taxes from Californians for another year. The company in turn would drop its battle to overturn the state's new law that required it and many other out-of-state online retailers to collect the taxes.

A former Borders employee is attempting to represent a class of about 300 workers in suing the bankrupt retailer for not giving proper notice of impending mass layoffs.

While many other retailers are increasing the number of outlet stores they operate, J.C. Penney is getting out of the business altogether. The retailer has reached a deal to sell 19 of its outlet stores to SB Capital. The department store chain made the decision to get out of operating the stores at the same time it is closing its print catalog business.