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Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

nytimes.com

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Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#131

Post by db48x »

will_brown wrote: post #121
_red wrote: post #70

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can't sell something you own, then you don't own it. Being free to dispose of property how you see fit has been a foundation of common law for a few centuries.

In that case you don't own your prescription medication. Reselling alcohol is another legal gray area, but absolutely prohibited to sell to minors, so not being able to dispose of your property how you see fit I guess you don't own your alcohol either.

You are completely correct. Same with some other common products too. You can "own" all the uranium you want, but as soon as you make one little nuke the government gets all up in your face. It's annoying.

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#132

Post by goatforce5 »

mabbo wrote: post #25
TillE wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Aldi Nord (owner of TJ) has done such an incredibly poor job of expanding the Trader Joe's brand outside of the USA. For example, all you get in their German stores are some random crappy products with the TJ label. It makes so little sense to go after this tiny company when you're not even competing in Canada. Which they probably should! I'm sure there's demand in cities like Toronto for the actual unique products t…

There is demand in Toronto. I am sitting in Toronto, and I still crave a lot of the good stuff I bought there when I lived in Seattle. I can't believe they opened stores in Germany, but never bothered to open one in Vancouver, where there was proven demand for their products.

I'm sitting in Toronto, and am in the process of getting my Canadian citizenship. One of the things I was looking forward to was getting a Canadian passport and having easier jaunts in to upstate New York for Trader Joe's runs.

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#133

Post by SeeDave »

Pardon my ignorance, but... why would Trader Joe's have a problem with their products being resold in Canada if they don't have a presence there? Does their parent company have a competing brand that sales are being cannibalized from?

From my perspective: every product sold in Canada was purchased in the U.S. so... if anything, this Pirate Joe fellow has provided additional sales for Trader Joes and proved that there is demand for Trader Joe's products in Canada at an incredible 40% markup!

If they're not interested in servicing Canada, would it not be to Trader Joe's advantage to enter a formal franchising or wholesaling agreement with Pirate Joe?

There must be more to this story in terms of Trader Joes objectives as opposed to Pirate Joe's methods or the legal proceedings.

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#135

Post by 801699 »

jandrese wrote: post #86
801699 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I don't understand with what right..." trademark. he picked the wrong name for his business.

Trader Joe's doesn't have a trademark in Canada because they don't do business there.

afaik, he was not sued in canada.

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#136

Post by giarc »

SeeDave wrote: post #133

Pardon my ignorance, but... why would Trader Joe's have a problem with their products being resold in Canada if they don't have a presence there? Does their parent company have a competing brand that sales are being cannibalized from? From my perspective: every product sold in Canada was purchased in the U.S. so... if anything, this Pirate Joe fellow has provided additional sales for Trader Joes and proved that there…

I obviously can't comment from Trader Joes perspective, but did work in food safety for awhile so I can comment from that perspective.

The problem I imagine they have is that someone is selling Trader Joe products (with their label) after handling it themselves, and often having random Craiglists employees handle the items. Prior to this, Trader Joe's (or companies hired by them) are handling the products.

Imagine someone begins tampering with the food items and a few Canadians get sick or injured. This might prompt a recall of all Trader Joe's cookies, not just the ones imported into Canada for example. The FDA wouldn't be able to say that the tampering happened after the products were purchased by Pirate Joe's. The same argument applies to temperature sensitive products as well.

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#137

Post by [deleted] »

DanBC wrote: post #23
captainmuon wrote: post #10

I don't understand with what right trader Joe's can prohibit somebody from reselling their products. If he clearly states where he bought them from, and that he is not affiliated, and doesn't misuse their trademarks (impersonate them), it should be absolutely legal. A side remark, people often say how great the US / north America is for entrepreneurs, compared to (continental) Europe where there is a lot of red tape…

> But in my opinion, if I were to do this in Germany there is no way ALDI (whom trader Joe's belongs to iirc) could sue me out of business. They could, and Levi's jeans did it with Tesco who were selling grey market imports. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1261829.stm

[deleted]

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#138

Post by post_break »

captainmuon wrote: post #10

I don't understand with what right trader Joe's can prohibit somebody from reselling their products. If he clearly states where he bought them from, and that he is not affiliated, and doesn't misuse their trademarks (impersonate them), it should be absolutely legal. A side remark, people often say how great the US / north America is for entrepreneurs, compared to (continental) Europe where there is a lot of red tape…

I buy something from Pirate Joes that is tainted or recalled and get really sick or die. Who do you sue? I can see Trader Joes thinking about that scenario.

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#139

Post by giarc »

hallalex831 wrote: post #83

I'm surprised Trader Joe's hasn't gone to Amazon yet to have all of these listings removed yet... https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3...

Have them removed? They are the seller.

>by Trader Joe's

Re: Pirate Joe’s, Maverick Distributor of Trader Joe’s Products, Shuts Down

#140

Post by jlarocco »

post_break wrote: post #138
captainmuon wrote: post #10

I don't understand with what right trader Joe's can prohibit somebody from reselling their products. If he clearly states where he bought them from, and that he is not affiliated, and doesn't misuse their trademarks (impersonate them), it should be absolutely legal. A side remark, people often say how great the US / north America is for entrepreneurs, compared to (continental) Europe where there is a lot of red tape…

I buy something from Pirate Joes that is tainted or recalled and get really sick or die. Who do you sue? I can see Trader Joes thinking about that scenario.

Isn't this exactly what the OP is talking about? Why would you sue anybody in that situation?
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