Buc-ee’s Lawsuit Leaves Driving Cartoon Dog’s Tank on E
With a coffee shop, children’s play area, and dog park, Missouri business Barc-ee’s opened in the fall of 2024. According to a local news article, the owner hoped to “inspire banter” with popular and growing convenience store chain Buc-ee’s.
Buc-ee’s took notice, but the banter Barc-ee’s received probably wasn’t what the owner had in mind: In March 2025, Buc-ee’s sued the companies behind Barc-ee’s for trademark infringement and related claims. Although Barc-ee’s filed an answer denying the allegations, on April 17, 2025 its Facebook page has announced “the official closing of Barc-ee’s.”
Buc-ee’s complaint pointed out the claimed similarities between the names, as well as the fact that the Barc-ee’s logo features “a friendly smiling cartoon animal oriented within a circle with a yellow background encompassed by a black circle.” The Barc-ee’s mascot is a dog in a car:
Similarly, the Buc-ee’s mascot is a beaver within a circle with a yellow background and encompassed by a black circle:
The mascot/logo is registered for “Retail store services featuring convenience store items and gasoline” along with various goods.
Buc-ee’s appears to have launched an offensive against anthropomorphic animals on circular backgrounds. In late 2024, the company sued 2 Wisemen Enterprises, allegedly doing business as Duckees Drive Thru, a liquor and convenience store featuring a sunglasses-clad waterfowl:
Furthermore, Barc-ee’s seems to have been aware of Buc-ee’s actions because a January 12, 2025 article about the Barc-ee’s grand opening – which Barc-ee’s itself linked from its website – notes that Buc-ee’s recently sued a business called Duckee’s, but that Barc-ee’s was not concerned about a similar challenge “[s]ince Barc-ee’s is doing something a bit different.”
In January 2025, Buc-ee’s sued Texas-based Super Fuels, proprietor of gas stations emblazoned with a super-hero dog with a background of a blue circle.
An individual apparently associated with Super Fuels also owns a registration for the design, without a claim of color:
According to court filings, both cases have since settled. An article in convenience and petroleum retail trade publication CSP stated that the Buc-ee’s beaver also has taken legal action against other critters, including a raccoon, an alligator, and chicks. In 2018, a jury held that the alligator – or rather its related travel stop business – had infringed and diluted the Buc-ee’s logo.
It can be tempting to show admiration for or poke fun at another brand by adopting tongue-in-cheek elements of its branding. This can lead to a situation that’s stickier than the gas station floor, especially since a 2023 Supreme Court ruling limited the ability of even arguable parodies to trade under a similar name or other features of an established brand. While imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, no company wants it to be the sincerest form of trademark infringement.
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