Legal
August 3, 2015 at 2:30 pm
Fabric patterns are covered under intellectual property laws. Lilly Pulitzer, known for its bright and unique fabric patterns, is suing Old Navy for copyright infringement, saying the Gap-owned unit blatantly stole two of the designer’s fabric prints. While apparel designs aren't covered by any intellectual property laws, one-of-a-kind prints and patterns do fall under that protection. Sugartown…
July 30, 2015 at 2:27 pm
Oklahoma City-based Hobby Lobby Stores is fighting Visa and MasterCard in court over what it claims are excessive fees for accepting debit and credit cards at its stores. Hobby Lobby and its sister company Mardel have filed an antitrust lawsuit against Visa and MasterCard in U.S. District Court in Oklahoma City over the fees, which…
July 23, 2015 at 2:20 pm
Two skeptical T.J. Maxx customers looked into the retailer's signature "compare at" price tags and found that the retailer basically guesses at what each item might go for at full retail and marks that as the comparable price for each discount item it sells. Law360 reports that they're now suing the company in California federal…
July 21, 2015 at 1:53 pm
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company Inc., which controls the A&P supermarket chain, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy overnight Monday and threatened to liquidate without approval for a sale of some of its stores. The filing marked the second Chapter 11 bankruptcy for the 156-year-old A&P chain in the past five years, giving the…
July 16, 2015 at 3:03 pm
Tory Burch has been awarded $41.2 million after winning a trademark infringement lawsuit against Lin & J International Inc., who the designer successfully proved had copied her trademarks and designs. The judgement, which was made by the US District Court on Friday, draws a line under a battle between the two brands that started in 2013…
July 15, 2015 at 3:12 pm
A Massachusetts woman filed a class-action lawsuit Tuesday accusing Wal-Mart of wrongly denying employee benefits for same-sex spouses. Jacqueline Cote says Wal-Mart repeatedly denied medical insurance for her wife before 2014, when the retail giant started offering benefits for same-sex spouses. The couple incurred at least $150,000 in medical costs after Cote's wife, Dee Smithson,…
July 14, 2015 at 2:26 pm
When a consumer searches for a product a retailer doesn’t carry, how should the retailer respond? A recent federal appellate court opinion suggested that Amazon.com gave the wrong answers to consumers searching for a watch brand that it didn’t carry. Multi Time Machine makes high-end military-style watches under brand names including “MTM Special Ops.” MTM…
July 13, 2015 at 2:36 pm
Owning and running your own company can be tremendously exciting, especially when you start to generate business in new markets and regions. When your business strategy is working like a charm, and customers from other states are beating a path to your door, it’s important to remember administrative obligations that can cause major problems and…
July 10, 2015 at 1:56 pm
Skechers USA Inc. said it filed a lawsuit alleging that a footwear style sold by rival Steven Madden Ltd. infringes patents for the company's walking-shoe line and other products. Manhattan Beach, Calif.-based Skechers is seeking an injunction against the Setta line of footwear sold under the Steven by Steve Madden line. Skechers also is seeking…
July 9, 2015 at 2:19 pm
Consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble Co. has settled a lawsuit alleging that the company used oversized packaging to make its Olay beauty products seem larger than they are. The civil complaint, which was filed by district attorneys in Riverside, Yolo, Fresno and Shasta counties in California, said the Cincinnati-based company violated California's slack fill…
