• by Tanya Gazdik , 11 hours ago

Comedian John Oliver is challenging Buc-ee's to sue him and HBO over a parody logo called the “Buc-Off.” 

The “Buc-Off” merchandise line features the mascot Mr. Nutterbutter, a 7-foot-tall squirrel mascot. Profits will be donated to HungerFreeAmerica.

Oliver is mocking the gas-station chain’s litigious reputation, especially against small businesses with logos featuring cartoon animals.

 One such lawsuit, Buc-ee’s vs. Mickey’s, was featured in Marketing Daily earlier this year. 

“I would argue, if you get confused between those two logos, that is an issue with you because one is a beaver and one is a moose," Oliver said.

“The ‘Last Week Tonight; host ended the show's July 26 episode by daring Buc-ee's to pick on a company its own size and positioned his show and network as a potential target,” according to USA Today. “Buc-ee's has won almost all of the cases because the other companies usually opt to settle and redesign their logos or just fold completely because, as Oliver points out, ‘most just don't have the resources to fight a company this big.’”

Oliver detailed more than a dozen lawsuits the Texas company has filed over trademark infringements, referencing suits filed against companies in Georgia, Texas and New York.

“Buc-ee's has spent years aggressively defending its trademarked beaver logo in court," according to the Houston Chronicle. “In 2014, the company forced Frio Beaver store to abandon its similar beaver mascot before winning a federal trademark case against rival Choke Canyon in 2018, when a Houston jury found the company's grinning alligator logo infringed on Buc-ee's branding.”

Two days after Oliver challenged Buc-ee's to sue him, the big convenience store chain sued a small carryout business called Beavers Mini Mart, according to Law.com.

If Buc-ee’s actually sued Oliver and HBO over this, “the PR would be terrible, it would only give Oliver more attention and generate more headlines about the company being a trademark bully, and it would make the company look very thin-skinned and childish,” according to TechDirt.com.