A federal judge in New York has sanctioned Wal-Mart Stores Inc., finding that the retailer misled plaintiffs about its computer system in a trademark infringement case.

On March 28, Judge Robert P. Patterson ordered Wal-Mart to pay costs and attorney fees to lawyers who, in December 1998, requested computer records they believe will prove that Wal-Mart sold counterfeit Polo, Nautica and FUBU clothes in dozens of its stores.