Evaluating Ownership: Intellectual Property in Canada

Shopify is in a billion-dollar battle. Often described as the darling of the Canadian tech sector, the Ottawa-born firm’s explosive growth has propelled it to the forefront of the digital merchant space. It is no secret, either to Canadian policy makers or to the platform’s merchants, that Shopify has begun confronting the multi-trillion-dollar ecommerce giant, Amazon: in 2021, Tobias Lütke, CEO and founder of Shopify, boldly described his company as “literally an Amazon alternative.”

The firms are former partners, a relationship that has been likened to an appeasement attempt to fend off Amazon’s previously predatory and anti-competitive behaviour. Yet, with Shopify’s quarterly earnings soaring above US$1 billion and over US$119 billion in total merchandise sales, the potential for conflict between the two firms is growing more likely.