It’s a roadside rest stop animal logo legal smackdown, and it’s off to the jury.
Buc-ee’s, a popular chain of Texas pit stops, fought hard to build its reputation and wants a San Antonio-based competitor to stop “riding its coattails” by using a logo that confuses highway travelers into pulling off at a rival business, the company’s lawyer told jurors in his closing statement Monday in Houston.
“We don’t want to put Choke Canyon out of business,” said Buc-ee’s lawyer, Tracy Richardson, poised between poster boards displaying similarly colored T-shirts, beer koozies and plastic grocery bags with the animal logos from the two rival chains. Buc-ee’s just wants Choke Canyon’s owner to curtail what it views as an unfair ad campaign: “We just want him to stop using the logo.”
Richardson and the lead attorney for Choke Canyon offered closing pitches to jurors before they began deliberations Monday afternoon, following a week of testimony about the dueling roadside travel centers in a federal trademark case before U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison. The jury of three women and nine men will resume deliberations Tuesday.
The lawsuit brought by mega-chain Buc-ee’s claims that Choke Canyon’s alligator logo, posed against a circular yellow backdrop, is too similar to the buck-toothed beaver that is synonymous with its 33 gas stops. The Buc-ee’s chain, headquartered in Lake Jackson, also contends that Choke Canyon illegally mimicked its in store offerings, including friendly service, ample stock and plentiful, clean bathrooms.
[…]
[Defense attorney Charles] Hanor said the two trademarks are quite different, as are the offerings. The alligator is advertising a chain that specializes in barbecue, he told jurors, noting that Buc-ee’s only complained in court about its road stop competitor when Choke Canyon sought to open a chain in New Braunfels, where Buc-ee’s also had operations.
Trademark law doesn’t give either company a hold on any one attribute of their logo. Instead, the jury will consider the strength of Buc-ee’s logo, the similarity between the two logos and the stores’ product lines and whether Choke Canyon set out to or actually did confuse customers with the overlap.
It’s a balancing act, the judge explained in his directions to the jury. The goals of trademark law are to protect the public from being misled, to protect the rights of businesses to identify themselves in public and to protect the public interest in fair competition, Ellison said.
See here for some background. Earlier stories from the trial are here, here, and here. As I said when news of the lawsuit first appeared, I think Buc-ee’s is stretching it here. Maybe it’s because I’ve never seen a Choke Canyon, but I don’t see how a reasonable person could confuse the two. That’s up to twelve jurors here in Houston to decide. I wish them luck.
There have been these type of stores for years – and Buc-ee’s isn’t the first of its kind. I think it is a bit of a stretch on Buc-ees’ part.
That’s reminding me of the legal skirmish between Radio Shack and Bianca’s Smut Shack. You really think people can’t tell the difference?
What do you want to bet that Buc-ee’s management goes into a full blown tizzy about Frivolous Lawsuits Brought By Greedy Lawyers when the plaintiff is a person who got hurt on their property?
Beaver win
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