Michael Hallatt, a Vancouver businessman who purchases Trader Joe’s products by traveling to the United States and resell the goods at the Pirate Joe’s store in Kitslano B.C store. Trader Joe’s filed a lawsuit against Pirate Joe’s, as this action is “a result of trademark infringement, false endorsement and false advertising”. Surprisingly, Pirate Joe’s store has won this legal case oppose to the famous retail giant. Reason being, The Lanham Act is a powerful legislation to protect the U.S commerce and shut down anyone that attempts on affecting the U.S commerce, so Pirate Joe’s made it clear that this action is not affecting the U.S commerce as vast majority of the customers are non U.S residents.
The question is, does Pirate Joe’s deserve the winning lawsuit title in the context of business ethics? From a personal perspective, Pirate Joe’s action is unethical as it does give off the impression of stealing Trader Joe’s products and reselling them. However, from a different perspective, Pirate Joe’s is the biggest customer Trader Joe’s currently have as Hallatt spends $4,000 to $5,000 worth of products every week at their store, which in turn assist Trader Joe’s in generating revenue.
From a consumer point of view, Hallatt claims this action as the purpose of filling up the void for Canadian citizens – which I agree on. As a customer, I am glad that Pirate Joe’s allow Canadian citizens to have an easy access to U.S goods because not only it saves time but also travelling expenses. Instead of seeing it as an economic harm, I would see it as a smart entrepreneur idea, which creates a strong value proposition for Pirate Joe’s.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oo_tiDwkgJ0
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