Pirate Joes: A Unique Take on Cross-Border Shopping

A friend in Vancouver posted this story on Facebook mentioning that the story of a local man who’s going across the border, buying hundreds of thousands of dollars from Trader Joe’s (which doesn’t have stores in Canada) then re-selling the goods at his “Pirate Joe’s Store” is apparently a big deal out there.

I’m obviously very interested in copyright but this story provides an interesting take on the related issues around trademark, corporate “rights” to enforce their regional territory, the doctrine of first sale (eg. once you buy a product, its yours to do with as you please) and so on.

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