Legal

Barnes & Noble has bought some of Borders’ intellectual property along with other bidders. According to Hilco Trading, the liquidation company handling the sale, multiple bidders, including Barnes & Noble, have agreed to buy $15.8 million of Borders' intellectual property, Craine’s said.

Now that California and Amazon have called a truce of sorts in their tax fight, what will become of the 10,000 affiliates caught in the middle that were unceremoniously booted from online marketing affiliate programs? Chances are they should be making a comeback.

Hundreds of Groupon sales department employees have filed a class-action lawsuit against the company charging it failed to pay overtime. The suit demands back wages for the past three years plus punitive damages for nonpayment of overtime.

French fashion brand Lacoste has asked Norwegian police to ban mass murderer Anders Behring Breivik from wearing its clothes during court appearances. His choice of clothes has been described as a nightmare for the French company's exclusive image.

Amazon cut a tentative deal with legislative leaders that would allow it to postpone collecting sales taxes from Californians for another year. The company in turn would drop its battle to overturn the state's new law that required it and many other out-of-state online retailers to collect the taxes.

A former Borders employee is attempting to represent a class of about 300 workers in suing the bankrupt retailer for not giving proper notice of impending mass layoffs.

While many other retailers are increasing the number of outlet stores they operate, J.C. Penney is getting out of the business altogether. The retailer has reached a deal to sell 19 of its outlet stores to SB Capital. The department store chain made the decision to get out of operating the stores at the same time it is closing its print catalog business.

The United States Postal Service has long lived on the financial edge, but it's never been as close to the precipice as it is now: the agency is so low on cash that it won't be able to make a $5.5 billion payment due this month and may have to shut down entirely this winter unless Congress takes emergency action to stabilize its finances.

Amazon.com is offering to bring thousands of jobs to California as it tries to back away from confrontation over the state's new internet sales tax law. The online retailing giant proposed opening six distribution centers that would employ a total of 7,000 Californians, according to sources with knowledge of the offer.

Apple was slow to act against the booming counterfeit industry in China and other Asian countries, according to cables obtained by WikiLeaks. The technology giant eventually organized a team in March 2008 to curtail the explosion of knockoff iPods and iPhones, according to an electronic memo from the Beijing embassy dated September 2008.