Buc-ee’s and Choke Canyon settle

Our long animal mascot-based intellectual property litigation nightmare is finally over.

Popular Texas convenience store chain Buc-ee’s and Choke Canyon, a competing store that was found by a federal jury to infringe Buc-ee’s beaver logo, agreed Thursday to dismiss the lawsuit, meaning the damages portion of the trial won’t take place.

The damages portion of the trial was slated to begin in May 2019, but according to court records the parties attended mediation on Oct. 9 and entered a settlement agreement resolving all outstanding claims. On May 22, jurors found in favor of Buc-ee’s on all claims after hearing four days of testimony, agreeing Choke Canyon’s logo of a cartoon alligator wearing a cowboy hat was too similar to Buc-ee’s logo of a cartoon beaver wearing a baseball cap.

Charles Hanor, who represents Choke Canyon, told Law360 on Thursday the terms of the settlement are confidential and declined to comment further. Buc-ee’s general counsel, Jeff Nadalo, issued a statement to Law360 that the settlement meant Choke Canyon “surrendered its federal trademark registration of the offending logo, removed all offending logos and products and has paid substantial damages to Buc-ee’s.”

In the joint stipulated dismissal filed by the parties in federal court in Houston on Thursday, the stores told the court they had agreed to dismiss with prejudice all remaining claims.

“The permanent injunction the court entered on Aug. 3, 2018 will remain in full effect,” the brief filing reads. “Buc-ee’s and Choke Canyon each shall bear their own costs, expenses and attorneys’ fees.”

That injunction, issued by U.S. District Judge Keith P. Ellison, bars Choke Canyon from using its cartoon alligator logo on store-branded products, in advertising, or in any other capacity — including color and black-and-white versions of the logo, and versions of the logo with and without Choke Canyon text surrounding the mascot.

Hanor had told Law360 at the time it would cost Choke Canyon more than $100,000 to comply with the judge’s order. Choke Canyon has already put to use a new logo, this one featuring a cartoon cowboy who is winking and wearing a cowboy hat.

See here, here, and here for some background. For you law nerds, the case is Buc-ee’s Ltd. v. Panjwani et al., case number 4:15-cv-03704, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas. Choke Canyon had been planning to appeal, based on some evidence the judge didn’t allow and other factors, but in the end decided this was the better way to go. I wish them the best of luck in their non-animal-logo future.

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