A U.S. court has the authority to hear a trademark lawsuit by grocery chain Trader Joe's against the man who runs a Vancouver knockoff, Pirate Joe's, a U.S. federal appeals court ruled Friday. Trader Joe claims Pirate Joe's owner, Michael Hallat, has been purchasing goods at Trader Joe's U.S. stores for resale in Vancouver. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a decision by a district court in Washington state that initially dismissed California-based Trader Joe's federal trademark claims. In court documents responding to the lawsuit, Hallatt said he never represented himself as an authorized reseller of Trader Joe's products or as an affiliate of Trader Joe's. The U.S. appeals court has sent the case back to the Washington state district court for further proceedings.

Source: CBC News August 26, 2016 23:03 UTC