Macy’s bid to prevent Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia from executing a sales agreement with JCPenney is set to go to trial Feb. 19.
The case won’t be tried before a jury and there will be no need to decide damages, Judge Jeffrey K. Oing said yesterday.
Any potential damages in the dispute “are going to pale in comparison to the injunction,” Oing said.
Macy’s claims it has an exclusive right to sell Martha Stewart Living products in certain categories. The Cincinnati-based retailer sued both JCPenney and Martha Stewart Living seeking to halt their sales agreement, announced in December 2011.
In one suit, Macy’s said Plano, Texas-based Penney caused it to “incur substantial damages and threatens to inflict incalculable further harm” and that the Martha Stewart accord is “transparently designed to eliminate the competitive advantage that Macy’s enjoys in the area of home products.”
Oing in July granted Macy’s request for an initial injunction blocking Martha Stewart Living from taking any steps on making, marketing, distributing or selling certain Martha Stewart-branded products in JCPenney.