Intellectual Property Must Be Protected
Intellectual property rights can include a trademarked slogan or copyrighted logo. If someone’s bold enough to use them without your permission, they’ll continue to do so unless you take action as an International litigation lawyer has experienced. What you’ve invested in these assets will benefit that other company, not yours.
What Are Intellectual Property Rights?
Intellectual property (IP) covers creations of the mind, according to the World Intellectual Property Organization, including the following:
- Inventions
- Literary and artistic works
- Designs
- Symbols
- Names and images used in commerce
IP is protected by state, federal, and international laws through patents, copyright, and trademarks. They allow people to be recognized or earn an income from their creations. The IP system’s many goals include balancing creators’ interests with the broader public’s interests as our friends at Focus Law LA can share.
What Do Intellectual Property Rights Have To Do With A Rest Stop?
It’s not just any rest stop. It’s Buc-ee’s.
It’s a company that owns 51 truck stops in eight south and southeastern states (36 in Texas). These are massive businesses open 24 hours a day, every day of the year. Buc-ee’s claims its Luling, Texas, location is the world’s largest convenience store at 75,593 square feet, or slightly more than half the size of an average Target Superstore. Buc-ees, founded in 1982, is estimated to have about 3,000 employees and about $629 million in revenues.
Any business this size will have substantial amounts of money invested in their IP, especially their logos and advertising material, so it’s worth protecting.
Buc-Ee’s Sues Missouri Store For Infringement
The company in November sued a Kimberling City, Missouri, liquor store, in federal court claiming the store’s mascot is a copy of its own (maybe not exactly). The store, Duckee’s, didn’t respond to press inquiries to give its side of the story.
A father-and-son team bought the store in April 2023. Buc-ees opened about eight months later in Springfield, Missouri, about 45 miles north of Duckee’s location.
Local Company Accused Of Intellectual Property Theft
The complaint was filed in federal court in the US Western District Court of Missouri, according to the Springfield News-Leader. Buc-ee’s alleges it trademarked its cartoon beaver logo and put it on many retail products and merchandise. This includes all the rest stop favorites, including drinking ware, clothes, and food.
Buc-ee’s accuses Duckee’s of violating the company’s rights by adopting a similar logo and applying it to products and ads for their services. The plaintiff claims their logo uses the “most important aspects of the iconic Buc-ee’s logo” by using a cartoon animal, a background filled with a yellow circle, and prominent black edges around the mascot.
Buc-ee’s alleges this will confuse the public, and some customers may falsely believe the two businesses are related, and this “…places the valuable reputation and goodwill of Buc-ee’s in the hands of Duckees, over whom Buc-ee’s has no control.”
The judge is asked to stop Duckees from using the allegedly copied logo, diluting Buc-ee’s trademarks, to order the destruction of all their infringing products, and award the company financial damages and any of Duckees’ profits.
If you want to protect your IP rights, believe they’re being infringed, or are accused of copying someone else’s IP rights, discuss the matter with your attorney.