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Bucee's Sues Super Fuels For Logo Trademark Infringement


TwiceHorn

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37 minutes ago, DalTxHornFan said:

Most boilerplate defendant answers include a laches claim.  The only time that I have seen a court deem it relevant was in a trademark case. 

That explains why folks do need to work to defend their trademarks.  Silly or not, the beaver needs to defend its turf.

Yes, as to actually confusingly similar marks.  This really isn't one.  I don't think 7-Mart was either.  Both Bucee's and 7-11 were being "proprietary" about their marks, that is unconcerned about likely confusion, lost sales, and attendant loss of goodwill.  

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21 hours ago, WBT said:

Jury ruled for Bucee's in that one.  What a joke.

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Snappy's is on the clock

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Smiling, hat, animal, yellow...that's 4 points of similarity right there.

 

So what is Bucee's motivation here?  I agree that they can't be losing significant sales.  Do they just enjoy paying lawyers?

As someone who recently went through trade mark for name, "logo" and image (3 different submissions) I'll note that your legal team actively monitors for tm infringement. My non-lawyer guess is the infringement was brought forth but legal counsel. They advised it was winnable and a company isn't going to veto their lawyers. Well, I sure as shit wouldn't.

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Sort of a general note on trademark ownership for a small or medium-sized business.

You don't need a registration to own a trademark.  As long as you use it in connection with services or applied to goods, you own a "common law trademark."  You can sue on it, license it, or sell it.  A federal, and to a lesser extent a state, trademark registration "formalizes" that claim and makes it easier to sue, license, or sell.

I call the above the "offensive" characteristics of a registration.  Most smaller businesses have no desire to actually sue anyone for anything, much less something esoteric like trademark infringement.  That is especially true when confronted with the reality that trademark litigation costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, with little prospect of damages and a bit of a coin-flip on the outcome, if the issues are at all close.

BUT, a registration has "defensive" characteristics, as well.  Once federally registered, confusingly similar marks (on confusingly similar goods or services, but it's really all the same inquiry) cannot be registered.

One of the worst-case outcomes for a smaller business is that someone else comes after and registers their mark and turns around and sues you.  If you are a prior user, you may prevail in such litigation, but at hideous cost, and there's a chance that expensive and annoying "rebranding" becomes a cost-effective option there.

As a smaller business, you cannot validly declare that you'll never sue anyone over a trademark, but even if you think that to be the case, the defensive characteristics of a registration can have huge value.

 

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41 minutes ago, TwiceHorn said:

Sort of a general note on trademark ownership for a small or medium-sized business.

You don't need a registration to own a trademark.  As long as you use it in connection with services or applied to goods, you own a "common law trademark."  You can sue on it, license it, or sell it.  A federal, and to a lesser extent a state, trademark registration "formalizes" that claim and makes it easier to sue, license, or sell.

I call the above the "offensive" characteristics of a registration.  Most smaller businesses have no desire to actually sue anyone for anything, much less something esoteric like trademark infringement.  That is especially true when confronted with the reality that trademark litigation costs hundreds of thousands of dollars, if not millions, with little prospect of damages and a bit of a coin-flip on the outcome, if the issues are at all close.

BUT, a registration has "defensive" characteristics, as well.  Once federally registered, confusingly similar marks (on confusingly similar goods or services, but it's really all the same inquiry) cannot be registered.

One of the worst-case outcomes for a smaller business is that someone else comes after and registers their mark and turns around and sues you.  If you are a prior user, you may prevail in such litigation, but at hideous cost, and there's a chance that expensive and annoying "rebranding" becomes a cost-effective option there.

As a smaller business, you cannot validly declare that you'll never sue anyone over a trademark, but even if you think that to be the case, the defensive characteristics of a registration can have huge value.

I've seen this bullying bullshit happen.  The Torchy's folks, for example, claim to own the phrase "damned good" in relation to functionally anything related to food.

Have some "damned good" chips you want to sell?  Maybe some "damned good" Danish kringle?  Or some "damned good" barbecue?  Fuck off, Torchy's and its private equity-funded legal team are going to sue you into oblivion.

Trademark bullying lawsuits are definitely one of those things where I think a "loser pays" mechanism would be really fucking helpful, because otherwise, it's just a system of "Goliath always wins, David always loses."

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On 1/26/2025 at 11:50 AM, jimmyjazz said:

Yeah, but the pristine no-touch bathrooms.

this is the ONLY reason I will even consider stopping. But to be honest, I'll find another way if I can. fuck that place. it's emblematic of everything I think is wrong with humanity and not just politics. the largesse of it all - how many freaking gas pumps are truly needed at one gas station, sweet jesus?!?

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7 hours ago, huge said:

My only reticence is the crowd.

And it never takes too long.

And everything is cheaper.

When Bucees gets enshittened then the real enshitten has hit the fan

When?

it’s a shopping mall sized gas station, I’m pretty sure that is peak enshitification. 

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3 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Y'all could fuck up an orgy.  It's a clean bathroom, a relatively quick fill-up, and (for my son) a cone of roasted pecans.  If you linger to peruse the shirts or God forbid you actually stay and eat, that's on you.

Yeah well man some people want intimate emotional and meaningful relationships not just sex with 40 people at once. 

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4 minutes ago, jimmyjazz said:

Y'all could fuck up an orgy.  It's a clean bathroom, a relatively quick fill-up, and (for my son) a cone of roasted pecans.  If you linger to peruse the shirts or God forbid you actually stay and eat, that's on you.

Stop spoiling that kid by buying him shit on gas stops. Just keep a few cans of vienna sausages somewhere in the car. If he's actually hungry, he'll eat them. (Every 70's dad ever)

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36 minutes ago, Iceman said:

Polar Pop at Circle K is significantly cheaper than Bucees. 
 

Just sayin…don’t mind the typhoid in the shitter though. 

 

13 minutes ago, huge said:

I see that Polar Pop is $.79

That's cheap.

There is a CircleK near me but the reviews are not promising.

Yeah, but...

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On 1/28/2025 at 7:52 AM, jimmyjazz said:

Y'all could fuck up an orgy.  It's a clean bathroom, a relatively quick fill-up, and (for my son) a cone of roasted pecans.  If you linger to peruse the shirts or God forbid you actually stay and eat, that's on you.

Get that philly cheesteak burrito or the breakfast tacos when they have them.  

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Those of you mentioning how quickly you can get in and out of a Buc-ees, I wonder if it depends on which one you're at.  I refuse to stop* at the fucking place for several reasons, but the main one is that I always have to wait in line for a gas pump, then wait in line to take a piss, then wait in line to buy the kids some shitty processed snack food.  It takes for-fucking-ever.  That defeats the entire point of a highway pit stop.   I also find it to be the most depressing place I've ever been outside of touring concentration camps.  Loving Buc-ee's is no different than loving Wal-Mart, and you don't see many folks stanning for that shithole.  The customer bases look eerily similar, though.  The more pumps/bathrooms/square footage one of those hellholes has, the longer it takes to get in and out.  It almost makes me believe the bullshit studies that show if you build more roads you just make traffic worse.  Almost.

 

* I actually do stop at a Buc-ee's once per year on an annual fishing trip, as I get outvoted by my idiot friends.  One is an aggie, and he has infected the other two with stupid.   Every damn year we're stuck in that god-forsaken hell hole for twice as long or more than it would take to stop at literally any other gas station to fill up and take a piss.  They know I hate it and take much glee from my curmedgeonly attitude while I stand outside and wait on them to fill up on shitty aggie snacks and cheap trinkets for their kids.  I never miss smoking more than those days.

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31 minutes ago, Samson's Wig said:

Those of you mentioning how quickly you can get in and out of a Buc-ees, I wonder if it depends on which one you're at.  I refuse to stop* at the fucking place for several reasons, but the main one is that I always have to wait in line for a gas pump, then wait in line to take a piss, then wait in line to buy the kids some shitty processed snack food.  It takes for-fucking-ever.  That defeats the entire point of a highway pit stop.   I also find it to be the most depressing place I've ever been outside of touring concentration camps.  Loving Buc-ee's is no different than loving Wal-Mart, and you don't see many folks stanning for that shithole.  The customer bases look eerily similar, though.  The more pumps/bathrooms/square footage one of those hellholes has, the longer it takes to get in and out.  It almost makes me believe the bullshit studies that show if you build more roads you just make traffic worse.  Almost.

 

* I actually do stop at a Buc-ee's once per year on an annual fishing trip, as I get outvoted by my idiot friends.  One is an aggie, and he has infected the other two with stupid.   Every damn year we're stuck in that god-forsaken hell hole for twice as long or more than it would take to stop at literally any other gas station to fill up and take a piss.  They know I hate it and take much glee from my curmedgeonly attitude while I stand outside and wait on them to fill up on shitty aggie snacks and cheap trinkets for their kids.  I never miss smoking more than those days.

You're doing it wrong. Enter the Buc-ee's. Peruse the goods. Spend an extra hour in there everytime they want to stop. Be the one who makes them hate the place.

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There's nothing quick about Buc-aggy, who the fuck thinks you can get gas there quickly? It's almost always at least a bit out of the way, and not any cheaper than Costco or HEB, if you're not an idiot and plan your trips even the slightest amount. The only exception, in convenience terms, I can think of is the small one in Giddings, if you're headed west. But it's not cheaper than a half dozen other places in town, and, with the railroad I always plan to make it through town as quickly as possible.

Not a dime of my money will knowingly go to paying for aggy athletics. Why this has to be said on this website in the age of NIL is insane.

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50 minutes ago, Fudge Nuggets said:

I've never been to a Bucee's and have no plans to ever go to one.

I guess it's kind of impressive the first time you walk into one of the newer oversized ones but if size is your thing then it isn't that much of a change from TA, Loves, and Flying J. Maybe if you want an absolute guarantee that there's gonna be an available gas pump, then maybe a Buc-ee's makes sense. Half the store is just kitschy Cracker Barrel-style knick knacks.

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