Many women in Sacramento love Martha Stewart. Stewart almost singlehandedly rejuvenated American homemaking and entertaining as an art form and has been met with incredible success, launching a popular magazine, television show and line of home goods.

That last business venture, though, might be getting her into trouble. Department store Macy's Inc. recently sued her company, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, over an agreement it entered into with rival department store J.C. Penney Co. Inc.

The heart of this business litigation is that Macy's claims Martha Stewart agreed to sell certain products only through Macy's and is now selling those products at J.C. Penney in violation of that agreement.

Macy's claims it signed a 2006 contract with Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia that gave it the exclusive right to sell Stewart's line of bath, home and cooking products. Macy's said it recently renewed the agreement's exclusivity provision, so until 2018 it should be the only store selling Stewart's products.

Neither J.C. Penney nor Martha Stewart has commented directly on the lawsuit, though late last year the two companies announced that J.C. Penney would be selling some Martha Stewart products.

It will be interesting to see how this lawsuit develops. Business at Macy's has been on the upswing lately, in no small part thanks to Martha Stewart products, so it will likely be reluctant to see this popular and successful line of merchandise go. Naturally, J.C. Penney would want to offer the popular products to it its own customers, though, so it is not likely to go down without a fight.

Source: Reuters, "Macy's sues Martha Stewart Living," Jan. 23, 2012