NY court revives Macy's claims vs JC Penney on Martha Stewart deal

In a decision on Thursday, the appeals court said a lower court judge erred last June in dismissing Macy's claims that J C Penney breached the confidentiality provisions of its contract with Martha Stewart, and that the alleged interference amounted to unlawful competition.

The appeals court let stand the judge's findings that J C Penney violated the "exclusivity" provision of the contract, and that Macy's was not entitled to punitive damages.

At issue was a 2011 agreement between J C Penney and Martha Stewart to sell a line of home goods bearing the name of the homemaking doyenne. Macy's claimed this violated an agreement it had struck five years earlier to sell similar products.

(Reporting by Jonathan Stempel in New York; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)