Daily Dose of Sultnpapper 08/12/18> Now for my answers… and thank you for yours too.

Lots of questions...

I’ve been asking a lot of questions lately but I haven’t been giving very many answers of my own so I thought that today I would just go ahead and get to the story that prompted all those questions about your shopping habits done. It hasn’t been a week but there isn’t any need on waiting until the post has earned all it can earn, I think we have all the answers to the questions that we are going to get.

Should have been an E...

So, that daily dose was 08/08/18 and question number one my answer is all of the above, A,B,C, & D. I guess I should have put an “all of the above as “E” but hindsight is 20/20 and I guess I was just a little blind at the time I did the questions. I think that the different types of the items we shop for should make for a direct impact on what makes it important on choosing a place to shop.

Screwed it up again...

I also kind of screwed up question three as well. Who would ever think that I could screw up a question that only required a “Yes” or “No” answer, but I damn sure did, because some folks thought I was asking if they could identify the brands I was talking about in the second part, when actually I just wanted to know if you could associate the alligator or the beaver to the products, BBQ and gasoline, that each sold and not a specific brand name. So my bad on that as well, I trust that each could after I clarified it with a few of you.

Finally got it right...

That leaves question number 2.)”* What would be “the straw that broke the camel’s back” that would make you quit doing business with a business you like and enjoy shopping at or doing business with?*” This is the question I was most interested in and I explain shortly.

Notable answers...

There were some real good answers for this question #2, ” Don’t insult the customer is number one”, came from @cecicastor and I surely agree whole hardheartedly on that. Another person, @klynic responded with, ” Lack of excellence: I am sure this pretty much sums up everything bad the business can really do to me.” I can’t argue with that either, in fact I think excellence is very important. Excellence in not only how you treat your customers and employees but also your competitors as well.

Never another nickel...

So let me tell you about one of my formerly favorite places to stop at when I travel and just why it is that they will never get another nickel from me, period. I actually had done a daily dose on them earlier in my time here, I thought that highly of them, and it’s the only place I know that sells beaver nuggets, that place would be Buc- Ee’s.

Buc- Ee’s claim to fame is that they have plenty of gas pumps and plenty of clean commodes, and they don’t allow semi trucks and trailers so you won’t have to encounter any of those “truck driver” types of people. They also have a store that sells all kinds of overpriced stuff with their bucked toothed beaver logo on it and they do sell food.

One of the food items they sell is BBQ, it is nothing to write home about and that is why you would never expect to find it featured in the “Will Eat BBQ 4 U “ BBQ review that I do on the 15th of each month. Their BBQ just really isn’t any good in my opinion.

So this begs the question from you of, “just what did Buc- Ee’s do to piss you off so bad @sultnpapper?” I am so glad you asked.

It involves lawyers...

That daily dose from 08/08 also had some mentions of lawyers, well Buc- Ee’s has 33 locations and is doing quite well business wise so they have some lawyers on staff I would imagine or at least they can afford some. Lawyers for Buc- Ee’s filed suit against a small startup company that is a BBQ restaurant company, no if’s ands or buts’ about it. This company, Choke Canyon BBQ with two locations, has decided to open some of their restaurants in conjunction with some Exxon gas stations. The suit involves trademark infringement and the suit was filed in the federal court house in Houston, Texas.

Buc- Ee’s lawyers went after Choke Canyon, sued and won the lawsuit, the trial was held back in May. Let’s take a look at some of the evidence.

You be the judge and jury...

Buc –Ee’s trademark is obviously the circular one with the yellow background and the big bucked tooth beaver in the center. It makes no reference to any product or services.

Choke Canyon on the other hand says clearly the name of the company and BBQ. Yes, it is circular in shape and it also has a yellow background. But if a person has half a guzbucking brain there can be no confusing one company for the other and I would bet that a kid in first grade would be able to identify which logo belongs to Buc- Ee’s if they have travelled anywhere in this state in their short lifetime.

There are several things that are disturbing to me about the lawsuit and the outcome.

First, I find it to be a case of the all powerful Buc- Ee’s wanting to crush any competitor that even thinks about doing something as well as they do it. That is what this lawsuit was actually all about, the CEO of Choke Canyon had previously been quoted praising Buc- Ee’s on their business model of, gas , grub, and plenty of clean potties. These big service station / food places are known as travel plazas and the CEO of Choke Canyon said that Buc- Ee’s is the clear leader in the travel plaza industry in Texas but that he felt that Choke Canyon could also do well since this is a big state and there is plenty of room out along the freeways for more businesses like Buc- Ee’s.

Compliments scared the beaver...

Rather than take the compliment and continue on about being the leader of the pack the beaver got threatened by the existence of some competition and took Choke Canyon to court on the ridiculous premise of trademark infringement. I say “ridiculous” because that is how I see it, but a jury comprised of my fellow Texans didn’t see it the same way as I do.

The attorney for Choke Canyon, said in an interview after the trial that the entire jury panel knew of Buc- Ee’s and were fans of Buc- Ee’s and loved Buc- Ee’s. He said he knew it was going to be hard to convince the jury to find in favor of Choke Canyon based on the jurors selected but he couldn’t disqualify the entire jury panel. I have to agree with the attorney on this, I don’t know that you could find 12 jurors and 3 alternate jurors in this county who aren’t a fan a Buc- Ee’s or least know the logo and what Buc- Ee’s business is.

Very disappointed ...

I have to say I am extremely disappointed in my fellow Texans who made up the jury on this case. Jurors take an oath to listen to the evidence and base their decision based on the evidence and the law that the case is being tried under. I wasn’t at the trial but the attorney for Choke Canyon says that Buc- Ee’s lawyers could produce no evidence that confusion about the two logos had ever occurred in the market. A survey found that 99% of 300 people surveyed by a defense expert witness said that those surveyed were not confused between the two brands.

The jury themselves should have known no confusion exists, they themselves had no trouble knowing Buc- Ee’s as they are fans and customers. The main thing in a trademark infringement lawsuit is that the logos are created in such a way as to cause confusion in the market due to similarities, no confusion exists here. Yes, there are similarities like both are round and have yellow background, feature a cartoon styled animal but there are several other logos that are round and yellow. I am sure there are other logos that feature some type of animal as well in a cartoon form.

If anyone it should be Izod...

If any company should have a beef with Choke Canyon it might be Izod, since they have a gator and sell clothes, Choke Canyon does sell shirts from what I have seen from being inside their place on Blanco Road in San Antonio. It appears to me that brand loyalty ruled the day in that court room and not rule of law. That isn’t supposed to happen in a court of law, but the suit was in federal court so that might explain something right there.

It ain't over 'til it's over...

Choke Canyon is going to appeal the verdict but the lawyers for Choke Canyon should have been smart enough to know they couldn’t get a fair trial in Texas knowing just how well Buc- Ee’s is loved here. They should have moved for a change in venue and asked for the trial to be in Louisiana or Mississippi where alligators are popular and loved and beavers are hated because all they do is chew down trees and block up water ways with their beaver dens.

Excuse me your honor...

Now, as you can tell, Buc- Ee’s has seen the last of me, unless I get called for jury duty and end up in the same court room as them. But even if I ended up in the court room I would not end up on the jury, because I know that if a juror can’t set aside what they know about a case or if they have a bias for one party or the other they need to let the judge know and be excused from the jury pool and I would do that, it is too bad and so sad that others evidently can’t either be honest with themselves or honest with the court.

Guzbuck the beaver...

Buc- Ee’s made it where I will never give them another nickel as I have stated. They sure as hell have insulted me with this lawsuit and definitely have shown a lack of excellence, two very good reasons as given by you the readers on when to give a company the boot up the rear end. Guzbuck the beaver!
Until next time,
@sultnpapper

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