Legal

Congress is wading into the roiling dispute between states and giant internet retailer Amazon.com over collecting sales taxes on online purchases. On Friday, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) introduced legislation that would require internet-only retailers to add sales taxes to customers' bills, just as their competitors with brick-and-mortar stores do. Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.) plans to introduce a similar measure in the House.

Although Amazon’s critics have identified a real problem, their solution is a mistake. They want an Amazon tax that replaces one type of unfairness with others and imposes costs on the economy out of proportion with any revenue it might generate. There’s a better solution, although not one that proponents of the Amazon tax like.

Groupon has fired back in the latest lawsuit against it, saying claims that its daily deals are in violation of consumer protection laws are “manufactured" and "not real.” Attorney Robert Foote filed a lawsuit in March on behalf of Adam Dremak, arguing that Groupon’s daily deals are in violation of the Illinois Consumer Fraud and Deceptive Business Practices Act, which prohibits expiration dates of less than 5 years on gift certificates.

Across the country state legislatures are considering — or in some cases have already enacted — laws that attempt to collect sales tax from online purchases made from out-of-state retailers by state residents. In large part the efforts are being driven by big-box retailers that are looking to harm competitors. Many of these large retailers are spending serious time and money lobbying lawmakers nationwide to consider these proposals despite their historical failure to generate new revenue.

Books-A-Million's efforts to secure the inventory, fixtures, equipment and leasehold interests for 30 Borders stores ended unsuccessfully because the company couldn't agree with Borders on terms. The going-out-of-business at these locations commenced, Borders announced.

The Retail Industry Leaders Association may sue the state if officials don’t require Amazon.com to pay sales taxes when it begins using two distribution centers now under construction in Tennessee.

Wal-Mart has agreed to give women planning to sue for sex bias an extra 90 days to file their cases, a lawyer for the company said. Wal-Mart won a ruling in June that threw out certification of a gender-bias lawsuit representing as many as 1.5 million current and former female workers. The court said the plaintiffs failed to prove Wal-Mart had a nationwide policy that led to gender discrimination.

Kim Kardashian's lawsuit against Old Navy may have been filed to protect a huge deal the Kardashian clan has with Sears. Kardashian said she filed suit against Old Navy because she felt they were trying to intentionally deceive people into thinking she was a spokeswoman for the company by using a girl who looked just like her in their commercials. But, TMZ reported the the suit was filed because Sears felt the Old Navy commercial compromised it's ad campaign for the Kardashian Kollection.

Two fake Apple retail stores in the city of Kunming, China, have been ordered to close because they don't have official business permits. The stores were allegedly not in trouble for copyright infringement, but only because they didn't have the proper business licenses. Three other counterfeit Apple stores that operate without Apple's authorization remain in Kunming.

Francesca's Holdings Corporation today announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 10 million shares of common stock at a price of $17.00 per share. The shares will be listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market and will trade under the symbol "FRAN" beginning today.