In July 2016, Buc-ee’s Ltd. sued Harlow Foods Inc., the operator of Choke Canyon Travel Center, a combined convenience store and barbecue restaurant in Atascosa, Texas, for trademark infringement and unfair competition. The travel center is using a logo and other trade dress “confusingly similar” to Buc-ee’s logo and other trademarks, according to court documents. Buc-ee’s logo is a smiling bucktoothed beaver wearing a hat on a circle; Choke Canyon’s logo is a smiling alligator wearing a hat on a circle.
That case has not yet closed.
Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s has gone after other retailers with logos that it deemed similar to its own, including Frio River Grocery’s beaver logo and Chicks chicken logo.
A judge dismissed Buc-ee’s lawsuit against B&B Grocery Inc. in Dec. 2014 after B&B agreed to stop using the “Frio Beaver” logo and mascot at its Garner, Texas, convenience store and gas station. In May 2013, a Texas district court dismissed Buc-ee’s lawsuit against Chick’s pending a settlement, and Bryan, Texas-based Chicks changed its logo. The following month, Corpus Christi, Texas-based Susser Holdings Corp. acquired the sole Chicks location and converted it to a Stripes c-store.