Martha Stewart’s Company Breached Contract

Martha Stewart’s company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia Inc. (MSLO) (New York), “lost a bid” Thursday to “dismiss Macy’s claim that it violated its contract when it designed certain products for JCPenney,” even if the products are not branded by Martha Stewart, according to Reuters.

On Thursday, New York judge Jeffrey Oing declared that there is “sufficient evidence to show that MSLO breached its contract” when it designed items for Penney’s, according to Women’s Wear Daily.

While the Macy’s exclusivity claim was arguably the most memorable ruling of the day, the judge reiterated that the ruling “does not mean Macy’s will prevail,” WWD reports.

Oing also “dropped Macy’s claims that Penney’s intentionally interfered with the MSLO/Macy’s contract,” and decided that “Macy’s will not get MSLO’s design fee that it obtained from designing product in exclusive categories for Penney’s,” a fee which amounted to about $4 million, WWD reports.

Today, April 12, the judge will decide whether Penney’s will be able to sell product designed by MSLO bearing its trademark and logo. MSLO has currently been banned from selling its wares in Penney’s locations. Because of this, Penney’s has stopped plans to create Martha Stewart branded shops that would stock her product, according to WWD.