iStockphoto / Jacqueline Nix/Igor Petrovic
John Oliver recently put the gas station mega store chain Buc-ee’s in his crosshairs. He devoted a larger portion of a Last Week Tonight episode to discussing how Buc-ee’s files lawsuits against companies with logos even vaguely resembling theirs in an effort to bully others, according to Oliver.
With immense resources at his disposal, John Oliver then launched a knockoff line of apparel with a squirrel that resembles the Buc-ee’s beaver and issued a taunt for Buc-ee’s to come at him. Instead, Buc-ee’s has filed a new lawsuit against a tiny corner store, Beaver’s Mini Mart, in the neighborhood of BEAVERCREEK, Ohio. The lawsuit is not being met kindly by locals.
Why Is Buc-ee’s Suing A Mini Mart In Beavercreek, Ohio?
This store has been open for over 20 years in Beavercreek. Obviously, the town is named due to an abundance of beavers in the are. It would stand to reason that having a beaver on the sign in a town named Beavercreek would make perfect sense.
Conversely, Buc-ee’s opened its very first store in Ohio on April 6th of this year. Beaver’s Mini Mart has been in business for 20 years already in a town named after beavers. Also, they don’t even sell gas.
According to a report from the Cincinnati Enquirer, Buc-ee’s is claiming its customers “may be confused by the mini mart’s logo, which features a smiling beaver standing tall next to the store’s name in a red-letter font.”
Does it say Buc-ee’s out front? No. Does the beaver even look vaguely the same as Buc-ee’s logo? In so far that all beavers have a similar shape, maybe, but beyond that they look nothing alike.
Buc-ee’s had not even left the state of Texas until 2018 and this mini mart in Beavercreek, Ohio had been in business for years by then in the Cincinnati suburb. The owner, Vik Boparai, told the Cincinnati Enquirer “I don’t know why they would sue a small business like mine. I have two kids and this store is how I feed them.”
If you missed John Oliver’s segment here is a clip from YT Shorts that feels relevant at this point in time:
According to reports, Buc-ee’s also sued another gas station in Ohio back in February. Did they have a beaver logo? Nope. It’s a moose wearing a hat. But because Buc-ee’s beaver wears a hat the claim is they are too similar.
In his Last Week Tonight segment, John Oliver claimed Buc-ee’s has a history of successfully suing other companies that feature animal mascots. He cites “over a dozen lawsuits” against companies and says Buc-ee’s has threatened many more. Oliver also claims that Buc-ee’s has been wildly successful in these lawsuits and “won nearly all of the cases” because the companies being threatened, according to John, typically settle and redesign their logo.
Now it is happening again. But this time around, there is a large outcry on social media. Take a quick look at the X search for ‘Buc-ee’s Ohio‘ and glance at the replies to any of the posts. Do the same on Threads. People are not okay with this bullying of mom and pop businesses, whose place in local communities long predate Buc-ee’s, getting bullied by lawsuits. Will that deter any future lawsuits? Evidently not as John Oliver taunted them into suing him and instead the company went after a family owned corner store.