
Legal

A U.S. bankruptcy judge refused on Tuesday to allow Sports Authority to pay up to $2.85 million in bonuses to four executives for overseeing the winding down of the national sporting goods chain. Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy in March with hopes of keeping some of its 464 stores open, but battles among lenders and…
Whole Foods Market may be full of healthy stuff, but it can't trademark "world's healthiest." The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office rejected Whole Foods’ bid for a trademark on "World's Healthiest Grocery Store," calling it "merely descriptive." That's the same reason the office used years ago in rejecting a previous application by Whole Foods for "America's…
File this one under the bizarre files. Sports Authority wants to pay its top executives millions of dollars in bonuses while the retailer is going out of business. Once an operator of 460 athletic gear outlets, Sports Authority filed for bankruptcy protection and began going-out-of-business sales in an effort to pay its debts. As the liquidation…
Zara is in the spotlight for allegedly copying the designs of independent artist Tuesday Bassen. The Los Angeles-based illustrator and designer posted the below picture to her over 100,000 Instagram followers earlier this week showing the side-by-side comparisons of her work next to Zara’s designs. Total Retail’s Take: I get that mistakes happen, but when…
The lawsuit claims Skechers violated Adidas patents by selling sneakers that allegedly “copied Springblade technology.”
Walgreens is confident that its acquisition of Rite Aid will close by the end of this year, and CEO Stefano Pessina reports only about 500 stores would need to be sold to address regulator’s antitrust concerns. Analysts first predicted that anywhere from 1,000 to 3,000 stores would need to sell to satisfy the Federal Trade…
Abercrombie & Fitch last week filed litigation against Gap for the recent hire of Craig Brommers as chief marketing officer of Gap's namesake brand. In January, Gap had hired Mr. Brommers to help with the company’s turnaround. Brommers had been the senior vice president of marketing at Abercrombie for three years. The lawsuit alleges Brommers…
Ikea is recalling a popular line of low-cost dressers after the deaths of three children in the past two years.
Yesterday, Trader Joe's, the popular California-based company, was the third supermarket retailer (after Safeway and Costco) in recent years to agree to put funds towards reducing refrigerator coolant leaks that deplete the ozone layer and contribute to global warming. The Los Angeles Times reports the grocery retailer will spend about $2 million to correct the…
In today’s news roundup, find out why Revlon is buying Elizabeth Arden; the reason Amazon is cutting its shipping fees for certain products; and what a new postal reform bill may look like.