By Paula Pyzik Scott

The Texas-based Buc-ee's chain of travel centers has sued a Beavercreek, Ohio shop named Beaver's Mini Mart for a logo it says is too similar to its own cartoon creature. It echoes efforts by Apple computers to squelch other companies' use of fruit logos--even those with pears.

I'm disgusted with this heavy-handed approach by a multi-billion-dollar company toward a mom-and-pop shop that has been in business for two decades.

Do all beaver-branded entities need to worry? Being part of the community that is home to the Bluffton University Beavers and a stone's throw from Beaverdam, I'm rooting for Beaver's Mini Mart.

Buc-ee's is facing criticism from the likes of talk show host John Oliver on Last Week Tonight. Oliver has created a line of Buc-Off merchandise with proceeds going to Hunger Free America. Closer to Beavercreek, the Ohio law firm of Dyer Garofalo, Mann & Schultz has parodied the lawsuit with an ad inviting viewers to "Get the Beaver on Your Side"--rather than the roaring tiger usually depicted in the firm's ads.

Does Buc-ee's even have a beaver in its logo? It has buck teeth, but many rodents and lagomorphs have prominent incisors, including porcupines, capybaras and rats.