Buc-ee's CEO says lawsuit against Beaver's Mini Mart was filed after failed communications
Buc-ee's co-founder and CEO Arch Aplin told local media the company filed a trademark lawsuit against Beaver's Mini Mart only after the store did not respond to repeated outreach.
Buc-ee's co-founder and chief executive Arch Aplin spoke to News Center 7 on Thursday evening about the civil suit the chain filed against Beaver's Mini Mart in Beavercreek, Ohio. The lawsuit alleges that the local store's logo and its recent federal trademark application are confusingly similar to Buc-ee's long-standing trademark.
Aplin said the company had attempted for months to contact the store's owner, Vik Singh, using registered mail, phone calls and email, but received no response. He added that a lawyer for Beaver's Mini Mart finally reached out after 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, indicating a willingness to discuss the matter.
"The law requires us to protect our trademark, and filing the suit was the only way to do that without risking our own rights," Aplin said.
He described Beaver's Mini Mart as the party that initiated the trademark filing and said Buc-ee's would drop the lawsuit if the smaller chain withdrew its trademark request. The owners of Beaver's Mini Mart have called the action unfair and said they will contest the claims.