Lets be serious here. This is a standard "I'm wrong, but I have more money so Ill exhaust your resources to get what I want."
There's no trademark devaluation. There's no copyright infringement. There's no patent infringement. This is straight up First Sale Doctrine stuff. And even if there was the above 3, SCOUTS ruled those rights are exhausted on sale recently.
This is directly an issue of "More Money = Better Legal Justice". And that should be very worrying.
It's the similar power arrangement when an employee has legitimate grievances with their employer. Individually, they are a speck. Nothing. They can be gotten rid of like the chattel they are.
However, when Unions show up, they are the equal and opposing force that keeps a company in check with regards to their employees. Some have issues with Unions, as some of them are significantly corrupt. But by and large, unions are the equal and opposite force.
What protects small companies from large companies? In reality, nothing. That's what allows fake-patent shakedowns like the "SSL Patent", or others. And that's by exploiting protections in law... But what happens when one side has *10000 the resources? You capitulate and go bankrupt due to legal fees, legal harassment, and a continual defense against a legal monied attack.
In the end, there's fuck-all you can do. Well, other than whatever the monied plantiff wants.
Gotta love capitalism, eh? Just like votes, more money = more protection.
This certainly wasn't a trademark issue. Trader vs Pirate. There was no question this store wasn't run by Trader Joes/Aldi North. They were buying in bulk to stock a store where they couldn't normally get the goods. Reselling should be 100% A-OK. Any trademarks go along with the products. And as far as I would guess, the grocer certainly wasn't tampering with anything - if (s)he was, they'd go out of business quick.
This is just normal SLAPP-style punitive legal actions that a large monied corporation can do to stop the little guy from doing legal behaviors that they don't like.
As much as I disagree with the way the Republicans are leading this shutdown, I can see their point.
Government gets soo bogged down in process after process, and no amount of breaking away from that gives any sort of relief. Companies _can_ be more agile and make change much quicker than government can.
I've also heard the stories from members in government. Some say that open source is evil, or insecure, or whatever.. Or another where pallets of unused supplies sit to be thrown away. Or I've also heard stories about more money thrown at a developer working in the Army that has to buy useless equipment so his budget isn't destroyed next year (and yes, he's at our hackerspace, and during shutdown).
Then again, I side with the Dems on the PPACA issue. Our health care in the US stinks. It's something in the general right direction...
Yeah, free market. Like "I have more money, and I dont like your face, so I nuisance sue you until you're bankrupt." free market?
That's not a world I want to be part of, continue, or assist in any way.