SAN ANTONIO, T.X. — Texas based Whataburger is suing the North Carolina based What-A-Burger due to trademark infringement, according to a lawsuit.
There are multiple What-A-Burger locations in North Carolina and the lawsuit states Whataburger allowed them to use the name under certain restrictions. However, the lawsuit claims, What-A-Burger violated those restrictions by offering products that were similar in name and nature to the original Whataburger trademark.
Whataburger operates over 1,000 restaurants across 16 states. The company decided to expand into North Carolina but What-A-Burger (also known as What-A-Burger #13) already has locations in Mount Pleasant, Locust, and one or more mobile food trucks, according to court documents.
Whataburger contacted the owners of What-A-Burger in 2022 to let them they were planning on expanding to North Carolina and that their continued use of their What-A-Burger #13 would likely cause confusion and thus infringes the Whataburger trademark that’s been around since 1957, according to court documents.
The two companies ultimately signed a confidential coexistence agreement permitting limited uses of the What-A-Burger #13 trademark on May 19, 2023, according to court documents. However, that contract was reportedly breached when What-A-Burger launched their food trucks which were not permitted under the agreement, according to the court documents.
Whataburger officials say they contacted What-A-Burger at least four occasions to discuss the violation of the agreement without success thus causing a breach of the original agreement, according to court documents.
Whataburger wants the owners of What-A-Burger to destroy all signage, transfer the website domain whataburger13.com and any other domains with the Whataburger name included.
WCCB has reached out to What-A-Burger but has not heard back at this time.
