{"id":33461,"date":"2017-06-10T11:48:10","date_gmt":"2017-06-10T15:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=33461"},"modified":"2017-06-10T11:48:10","modified_gmt":"2017-06-10T15:48:10","slug":"the-trader-joes-v-pirate-joes-lawsuit-is-over-huh","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sidebarforplaintiffs.naomifein.net\/?p=33461","title":{"rendered":"The Trader Joe’s v Pirate Joe’s lawsuit is over! Huh?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n\n
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Here’s this true lawsuit story from the very funny Kevin Underhill, a genuine lawyer and sublime humorist, at…<\/p>\n

Lowering the Bar<\/h1>\n

I’ve bolded the parts that made me laugh out loud. Just a suggestion; you could laugh quietly or, if you have failed to develop a sense of humor, not at all.<\/p>\n

Contents:<\/strong><\/p>\n

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Trader Joe\u2019s Pays Canadian Pirate to Retire<\/h2>\n

Jun 09, 2017 05:30 am | Kevin<\/h4>\n

As you may recall, for the past few years a man in British Columbia has been traveling to the U.S., buying lots of stuff from Trader Joe\u2019s (which doesn\u2019t operate in Canada), and then taking it back and reselling it at home in Vancouver for a profit. For a reason I\u2019ve never quite understood, Trader Joe\u2019s is really upset by this.\u00a0See\u00a0<\/em>\u201cWhy Is Trader Joe\u2019s Suing Its Best Customer?<\/a>\u201d (Aug. 21, 2013).<\/p>\n

A federal district court in Seattle held a few months later<\/a> that, in fact, Trader Joe\u2019s hadn\u2019t explained how \u201cPirate Joe\u2019s\u201d competition was harming it here in the United States, which is a required element of the Lanham Act claim it brought. Pirate Joe (a.k.a. Mike Hallatt) was spending a lot of money at Trader Joe\u2019s\u2014which is presumably something it wants people to do\u2014and then reselling the products in Canada, where Trader Joe\u2019s doesn\u2019t operate. What\u2019s the problem, exactly?<\/p>\n

In 2016, the Ninth Circuit held<\/a> that the problem was, at least theoretically, that if somebody got sick in Canada because Pirate Joe\u2019s didn\u2019t handle food correctly, and then news of this illness traveled across the border, then people might (wrongly) believe it was Trader Joe\u2019s fault and decide not to shop at its U.S. stores. Had this ever happened? No. Could it ever happen? I guess, because Americans will believe any goddamn thing, or at least some will.<\/strong> But that theoretical possibility seems way too speculative to me to justify a lawsuit.<\/p>\n

I thought the footnote concluding that \u201cforeign\u201d may also mean \u201cdomestic\u201d was pretty good evidence that the reasoning in that decision was a little shaky.<\/p>\n

Anyway, that court\u2019s ruling sent the case back for further proceedings, and those have been proceeding ever since. According to reports this week, the case was set for trial in November, but was resolved on Wednesday when the two Joes reached some kind of a deal.<\/strong>\u00a0The exact terms of the settlement have not been disclosed, of course, but Hallatt has agreed to shut down his allegedly semi-piratical operation, and presumably Trader Joe\u2019s has paid him something in exchange. \u201cThey definitely didn\u2019t want me to be a business,\u201d Hallatt said, and as of 12:01 a.m. on Thursday, he isn\u2019t<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Congratulations, I guess, to Trader Joe\u2019s, for prevailing in its years-long quest to stop this dastardly foreigner from traveling here to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars in its stores.<\/strong><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here’s this true lawsuit story from the very funny Kevin Underhill, a genuine lawyer and sublime humorist, at… Lowering the Bar I’ve bolded the parts that made me laugh out loud. Just a suggestion; you could laugh quietly or, if … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[337,1175],"tags":[699],"class_list":["post-33461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","category-the-facts-of-life","tag-lowering-the-bar"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t