Venus, Ultama Settle Dispute

A pair of Jacksonville, FL-based swimwear catalogers have settled their dispute, though the terms of the out-of-court settlement are unknown. In March, Venus Swimwear filed a $12 million lawsuit against new competitor Ultama Swimwear, charging Ultama illegally used Venus's confidential mailing list to solicit customers. The list contained more than 250,000 customer addresses and e-mail addresses and was built by Venus customers volunteering information, said Daryle Scott, Venus president/CEO.

The suit also named former Venus employee William Retana and his company, Retana Designs. Venus alleged that Ultama may have received the list from Retana, a claim Retana denied.