Macy’s settles with Martha Stewart, but J.C. Penney fight ongoing

Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and Macy’s announced Thursday that they had settled a lawsuit that accused Stewart’s company of violating an exclusivity agreement by selling products at rival chain J.C. Penney.

Neither MSLO nor Macy’s disclosed terms of the arrangement. Macy’s said the deal doesn’t affect its ongoing suit against J.C. Penney.

The tussle stemmed from Stewart’s 2011 deal to sell home goods in J.C. Penney stores and for the retailer to snap up a nearly 17% share of MSLO.

At that point, the domestic doyenne’s company had already been peddling products at Macy’s for years. Macy’s promptly sued both companies.

In October, J.C. Penney said it would sharply scale back the Martha Stewart merchandise featured in its stores, eliminating the Stewart-designed bed, bath and cookware products to which Macy’s lays claim.

The company also said it would sell its stake in MSLO.

Earlier, a judge in New York had granted J.C. Penney the right, for now, to sell Stewart items under its Everyday label, which doesn’t bear the tycoon’s name.

In mid-morning trading in New York, Macy’s stock was up 39 cents, or 0.7%, to $53.79 a share. J.C. Penney stock was down 9 cents, or 1%, to $9.06 a share. MSLO stock was up 22 cents, or 5.2% to $4.42 cents a share.

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