Texan chain Buc-ee's sues indie Barc-ee's for mimicking its iconic logo

Buc-ee's, a Texan chain of gas stations and convenience stores known for its friendly beaver logo and mascot is suing Barc-ee's, a southwest Missouri business offering coffee, food a dog park and a Western-themed miniature city for trademark infringement. Barc-ee's logo includes a smiling animal mascot.

Buc-ee's claims that the unauthorised use of its trademark will benefit Barc-ee's at its expense, and could cause customers to mistakenly assume they are the same business. As is common with logo disputes, Buc-ee's believes the Barc-ee's is infringing on its rights.

Buc-ee's also claims that the Barc-ee's logo, which consists of a smiling cartoon dog in a hat inside a pink car holding a coffee inside a yellow circle with a black outline, "mimics important aspects of the iconic Buc-ee's logo". The latter features a friendly-looking beaver in a red hat in a yellow circle with a dark outline.

The court filing talks specifically about the Texan business' merchandise that features its beaver mascot in a red truck, compared to some Barc-ee's merch that features the Barc-ee's dog in a red car (see above).

The court filing also includes information on the Barc-ee's name and logo. "The Barc-ee’s Mark, among other things, is nearly identical both orally and visually to the Buc-ee’s Word Trademark."

It also mentions the positioning of the letters: “BARC-EE’S” with a curving word style, similar to Buc-ee’s curving word style used for many uses of the Buc-ee’s Word Trademark." (See images above.)

"Buc-ee’s has invested heavily in innovation across the company to provide the best quality products and experience for our customers," Buc-ee's general counsel Jeff Nadalo said in a statement shared with USA TODAY earlier in the week. "Buc-ee’s will not be an idle spectator while others infringe the intellectual property rights that Buc-ee’s has worked so hard to develop."

Barc-ee's is temporarily closed at the moment for a "glow up". "Although I prefer my business challenges to come with a side of coffee rather than a court summons, this is just a part of the entrepreneur game," said the owner John Lopez in a social media statement on 24 March.

"My legal team believes we are not legally infringing on any trademarks. Very rare does a small dog go into a fight with a big beaver and come out on top."

This isn't the first time that Buc-ee's has sued for trademark infringement. Open disputes have involved North Texas gas station Super Fuels, which has a dog in its logo that Barc-ee's claimed was too similar to its own.

Other trademark disputes have included issues with Texas-based convenience store, Chicks, liquor store Duckees, based in Missouri and Texan travel centre Choke Canyon.

Buc-ee's and Barc-ee's are of course, not the only one having logo dispute problems. Other recent issues are the Umbro logo dispute, Megan Markle's logo issues and the city of Dallas and clothing brand Triple D gear.