Legal

Pennsylvania's push to force online retailers to collect sales taxes has hit serious pay dirt — a commitment to do so by internet giant Amazon.com — but the struggle is far from over. Gov. Tom Corbett is eager to collect tens of millions of dollars in new state revenue without technically raising taxes. But consumers still look for tax-free merchandise on the internet and sellers are happy to fill the orders, pocketing profits while Pennsylvania's brick-and-mortar retailers are sandbagged by taxes they cannot evade.

A bid by Macy's to stop JC Penney Co. from selling products designed by Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. will be denied, a New York judge said after a hearing. Justice Jeffrey Oing in Manhattan today said he will rule against Macy's request for a preliminary injunction blocking JC Penney from taking any steps under an agreement reached with Martha Stewart Living last year. Macy's sued Martha Stewart Living in January to stop it from executing a sales agreement with JC Penney announced in December, with Macy's claiming an exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart products in certain categories.

Kim Kardashian has settled a lawsuit against Old Navy claiming the clothing retailer violated her publicity rights by using a look-alike in an ad. Kardashian sued over the spot in July 2011, claiming the company's use of a model who looked like her might confuse consumers about her actual endorsements, which include a clothing store and shoe line.

A California judge has ruled in favor of Amazon.com in a case involving the sale of counterfeit merchandise on its marketplace, reaffirming the ruling of a lower court and denying the injunction that the plaintiff was seeking. At issue were sales of a hair-straightening iron called the InStyler made by a California company called Tre Milano, which alleged that knock-offs of the product were rampant on Amazon's marketplace pages, and claimed that on at least one occasion, Amazon itself had sold a counterfeit product.

Victoria's Secret and its parent company Limited Brands have been accused of breaching a 2001 agreement and deliberately selling cheaper "knockoffs" to unsuspecting consumers in a $15 million lawsuit filed by one of the retail chain's former major hosiery suppliers. In a complaint unsealed today in federal court in Columbus, Ohio where Victoria's Secret is headquartered, New Jersey-based hosiery designer Zephyrs alleges that Victoria's Secret is misleading customers by selling less expensive, Canadian-made stockings while intentionally using photographs of Zephyrs-designed Italian-made stockings on packaging and in-store displays.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. I've noticed an uptick in recent months of the emails I'm getting from small businesses claiming that Groupon is threatening to sue them. I'm now starting to get about one of these emails a week. The latest sums up a lot of Groupon's current problems:

A federal judge has rejected Facebook's settlement offer in a class-action privacy lawsuit over the use of users' names and faces in "Sponsored Stories" advertisements. With Sponsored Stories, which rolled out in January of 2011, your "likes" on a brand's page can result in your name and profile picture being shown as endorsements in that brand's advertisements on the site. Users were not given an option to opt-out of the feature.

Macy's took its legal battle over its agreement to exclusively sell certain Martha Stewart items directly to J.C. Penney on Thursday, accusing the rival department store chain of interfering with its contract with the home goods designer. Macy's already successfully persuaded a New York state judge to temporarily block plans for Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia to sell its products at J.C. Penney stores in a lawsuit against Martha Stewart. 

lululemon athletica Canada is alleging Calvin Klein Inc. and G-III Apparel Group infringed on three U.S. patents for its popular yoga pants in a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware. lululemon, a Vancouver, BC-based company with 108 stores in the United States, alleges both companies infringed up to three U.S. patents when G-III made the pants for Calvin Klein, which sold them. 

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia filed a notice of appeal in a lawsuit by Macy's in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan, Bloomberg reported. Macy’s sued Martha Stewart Living in January to stop the company from executing a sales agreement that it announced in December with J.C. Penney. Macy’s said it had the exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart-branded products in certain categories. Last month, a judge in Manhattan granted Macy’s a preliminary injunction blocking Martha Stewart Living from taking any further steps under its deal with J.C. Penney.