Breaktime Houston sues Breaktime Corner Market and Vape Time Stores over alleged BRAKETIME convenience-store branding

What was filed

The case is Breaktime Houston LLC v. Breaktime Corner Market, LLC, Vape Time Stores, LLC, and John Does 1-10, No. 4:26-cv-09701 (S.D. Tex., Houston Division), filed November 3, 2026, ECF No. 1 (32 pages), with a jury demand. The complaint describes Breaktime Houston LLC as a Texas limited liability company based in Sugar Land, Texas, that has operated a chain of nine gas stations and convenience stores in the Houston area under the BREAKTIME marks since 2017. It describes Breaktime Corner Market, LLC and Vape Time Stores, LLC as Delaware limited liability companies based in Houston, Texas, that together operate more than 300 convenience stores in Texas, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, and Montana, including 45 in the Houston area. It sues John Does 1-10 as fictitious parties whose names it says are unknown, and says they include officers, directors, employees, and agents who authorized, directed, or participated in the accused conduct. The docket assigns the case to Judge Keith P. Ellison. It shows summonses issued to both companies and an AO 120 trademark report filed on November 4, 2026, and an initial pretrial and scheduling conference set for January 15, 2027.

The marks

USPTO TSDR shows two live Principal Register registrations owned by Breaktime Houston LLC, both in International Class 35 for retail convenience stores and retail store services featuring convenience store items and gasoline, and both claiming first use on March 2, 2017. BREAKTIME in standard characters, U.S. Reg. No. 5,361,309, was filed February 6, 2017 and registered December 19, 2017; TSDR records a Section 8 declaration accepted and a Section 15 declaration acknowledged on November 28, 2023. BREAKTIME with the face and hands of a clock, U.S. Reg. No. 7,736,945, was filed June 14, 2024 and registered March 25, 2025. The complaint alleges that the word-mark registration is incontestable under 15 U.S.C. § 1065. TSDR also shows Application Serial No. 99/426,773, filed October 3, 2025 by Vape Time Stores LLC for a stylized BRAKETIME mark in green for retail store services featuring convenience store items and gasoline in Class 35, claiming first use on May 31, 2024. TSDR records a non-final Office action on March 5, 2026 and abandonment for failure to respond, with an abandonment date of September 8, 2026. The complaint alleges that the Office action refused registration for likelihood of confusion with Breaktime's BREAKTIME marks.

What the complaint alleges

The complaint alleges that the defendants chose, on information and belief, in 2024 to rebrand certain Houston-area convenience stores under BRAKETIME word and composite marks that it says are virtually identical to the BREAKTIME marks, for identical convenience-store and gasoline services. It alleges that Breaktime sent the defendants a cease-and-desist letter on May 24, 2024, before the May 31, 2024 first-use date claimed in the BRAKETIME application, and that the defendants launched the BRAKETIME branding anyway and kept expanding it after the March 2026 Office action. It alleges that at a gas station in Bellaire, Texas, the defendants displayed Breaktime's registered BREAKTIME composite logo itself on price signage, and that they use the name "Breaktime Corner Market" on social media and previously used it on their website. It alleges both forward and reverse confusion, and says that after recent news articles linked the defendants' owners to the demolition of a historic Houston mansion and to plans for a BRAKETIME store on that property, Breaktime's owner received calls asking whether he was behind the demolition.

Claims and relief

Count I is federal trademark infringement under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)(a). Count II is federal trademark infringement for direct reproduction and passing off under 15 U.S.C. § 1114(1)(b). Count III is unfair competition and false designation of origin under 15 U.S.C. § 1125(a). Count IV is Texas common-law trademark infringement. Count V is Texas common-law unfair competition. The prayer seeks, jointly and severally, preliminary and permanent injunctive relief against use of Breaktime, BrakeTime, Breaktime Corner Market, BrakeTime Corner Market, and confusingly similar designations for convenience-store and gasoline services, removal of reproductions of the BREAKTIME composite mark from the Bellaire location and anywhere else they appear, an end to use of the Breaktime Corner Market trade name on its website, social media, and other consumer-facing materials, destruction of infringing materials, damages, the defendants' profits, enhanced damages under 15 U.S.C. § 1117(a), treble damages under § 1117(b) to the extent the Bellaire display is use of a counterfeit mark under § 1116(d), Texas exemplary damages, attorneys' fees, costs, and interest.