HOUSTON -- Buc-ee’s Ltd. has 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 new travel center is using a logo—an alligator with human characteristics—and other trade dress “confusingly similar” to Buc-ee’s beaver logo and other trademarks, according to court documents. Buc-ee’s beaver logo consists of a smiling bucktoothed beaver wearing a hat on a circle. Choke Canyon’s logo consists of a smiling alligator wearing a hat on a circle.
Buc-ee’s alleges that the infringement extends to the shape and general appearance of its retail outlets, including the decor, the menu and other features reflecting on the chain’s overall image that make its stores “immediately identifiable and unique.”
Lake Jackson, Texas-based Buc-ee’s, which has nearly 30 convenience stores in Texas, has gone after other retailers with logos that it deemed similar to its own, including Frio River Grocery’s beaver logo and Chick’s chicken logo, with some success.
In this latest court case, filed late last year in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas in Houston, Buc-ee’s claims that Choke Canyon’s “actions are creating, and will continue to cause, confusion in the marketplace and dilution of plaintiff’s intellectual property because their infringing store design copies the overall look and feel of Buc-ee’s stores.” It also said that the use of similar trade dress will cause consumers to mistake Choke Canyon’s goods and services for its own.
Buc-ee’s logo appears on foods, beverages and snacks, such as jerky, sandwiches, sodas, meats, cheese, pickled fruits and vegetables, jellies and preserves, fruit-flavored butters, trail mixes, nuts, chips, dips, salsa, candy, crackers, pretzels, popcorn, coffee, milk, ice and bread; paper goods; clothing such as T-shirts; toys and novelties; sporting goods; housewares, drinking glasses and mugs; portable beverage coolers; and other merchandise, as well as gasoline and diesel.
In court documents, Buc-ee’s offered examples of Choke Canyon’s logo on similar merchandise.
It also claims similarities in building and store size, design, layout and materials; color and signage schemes, styles and themes; oversized bathrooms; fountain drink setup; in-store ordering kiosks; deli and carving stations; number of cashier stations and fuel dispensers; and more.
Buc-ee’s is seeking to recover treble damages or profits, attorneys’ fees and costs.
Choke Canyon has three locations in the San Antonio area.
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