Convenience store owner calls Buc-ee’s a ‘trademark bully’ after lawsuit filed over mascot similarities

ATLANTA (ANF/Gray News) — A small north Georgia convenience store chain is fighting a trademark infringement and unfair competition lawsuit from Buc-ee’s.

In May, Buc-ee’s claimed that Teddy’s Market — which operates convenience stores attached to gas stations in Canton and Ball Ground, and soon in Decatur — has a mascot too similar to its own.

In the suit, Buc-ee’s cites many supposed resemblances, ranging from both characters wearing hats to both characters having solid black noses and red tongues. The company also says the name “Teddy’s” sounds too similar to the name “Buc-ee’s.”

Altogether, the similarities are “likely to cause confusion among consumers,” Buc-ee’s argues.

Karan Ahuja, the owner of Teddy’s Market, said he created the market and its logo in 2024 to add some fun to the gas station. Ahuja said he was surprised that Buc-ee’s would come after his business and admitted there is a lot of pressure, given Buc-ee’s status and resources.

But despite the heat, Ahuja said he is not backing down.

In a response filed on Friday, Teddy’s Market denied the claims and called the suit part of a pattern of “overzealous, groundless, and bad-faith trademark litigation.”

“Simply put, Buc-ee’s is a trademark bully,” the response said. “It is attempting to use litigation and intimidation to expand unlawfully its asserted trademark rights far beyond the scope of what it has established in the marketplace or by way of its federal trademark registrations.”

Teddy’s Market customers said they will back the smaller company and that they don’t think the two mascots look alike.

“Buc-ee’s is really big and huge, and it’s like a mall. It’s kind of hard to get confused with this place,” said Landon Guinn, who shops at Teddy’s Market all the time.

Teddy’s Market is far from the first company to receive a trademark infringement lawsuit from Buc-ee’s. Several businesses with animal mascots have received a similar legal notice — including an Ohio-based convenience chain against which the company filed a lawsuit in March, claiming that its moose mascot looked too much like Buc-ee’s beaver.

Buc-ee’s is asking the court to make Teddy’s Market destroy its logos, direct the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to throw out the market’s pending trademark applications and make the company pay for “ill-gotten gains.”

Meanwhile, Teddy’s Market claims Buc-ee’s defrauded the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in its trademark registrations and asks the court to cancel them.