Legal

Southern California designer jeans maker True Religion Apparel has won a $864 million court judgment against online Chinese counterfeiters, but actually getting that money will be a battle. The Vernon company, whose jeans can go for nearly $500, sued 282 websites originating from China and accused them of lifting company trademarks and peddling fake goods. The websites had names such as TrueReligion4Cheap.com and ForTrueReligionJeans.com. 

In a showdown between sports merchandising giants, Nike alleged that Reebok illegally sold Tim Tebow shirts and other apparel soon after he was traded to the Jets last week, according to a complaint filed late Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan. “Despite not having any current right or license to produce new N.F.L. products featuring N.F.L. player identification (i.e., player name and number), Reebok is producing and selling Tim Tebow-identified New York Jets apparel products in order to capitalize on the public’s short-lived intense consumer appetite for such products, and to prevent Nike from doing so,” the complaint said.

If you buy from an online retailer like Amazon or Overstock today will you be stung with sales tax? It's often hard to tell until you check out, and tomorrow may be even more confusing. The battle over internet sales taxes is far from over. 

A lawsuit alleges that Columbia Sportswear, as well as two Washington companies, breached nondisclosure agreements and misappropriated numerous trade secretes from Plaintiff, Innovative Sports. According to the complaint, Innovative Sports developed and brought to market heated clothing and wearable electronics, designing products such as heated jackets and its unique "Heater" pitching sleeve. 

Aaron's, a specialty retailer of residential furniture, consumer electronics, home appliances and accessories, today announced that the company has entered into a settlement of a lawsuit with a former Aaron's associate who claimed she was sexually harassed by a former co-worker in 2006.

Grandmother Evelyn Paswall is suing Apple for $1 million after a collision with a glass door at one of the retailer's stores in Long Island, N.Y. left her with a broken nose, according to a New York CBS report.

An animal advocacy organization is trying to use stockholder leverage to press Kohl's into swearing off fur. The Humane Society has placed a shareholder proposal on the agenda of the big retailer's annual meeting. The resolution asks shareholders to encourage the company to develop a policy by the end of the year to prohibit the sale of products that use animal fur. The Kohl's board opposes the measure.

Ross Stores agreed to pay about $17,000 to resolve allegations it discriminated against foreigners during its hiring process, the Justice Department said. Management at a San Ysidro, Calif. store was accused of improperly requiring a job applicant to provide the company with a green card even though she was cleared to work in the U.S. and had provided a valid alternate form of ID.

Wal-Mart has agreed to pay $2.1 million for not complying with a judgment against the chain for overcharging customers in California, the attorney general's office said. The 2008 judgment had directed the retailer to fix pricing errors discovered during a government investigation into its California stores.

A Brooklyn, N.Y. judge has tossed out a $260 million lawsuit alleging that American Apparel CEO Dov Charney kept a young employee as a "sex slave," saying 21-year-old Irene Morales had already agreed to arbitration. Supreme Court Judge Bernadette Bayne delivered her Feb. 10 ruling to attorneys Wednesday, according to DNAInfo.com. Bayne didn't address the merits of the claim that the 43-year-old Charney conscripted Morales, a former manager at a local American Apparel branch, into serving as his sex slave for eight months once she turned 18.