Sigh!!!
Trump Burger — the Texas restaurant chain embroiled in legal disputes, whose owners are facing threats of deportation — has added another legal case to its saga.
Roland Beainy, the public face of Trump Burger, had run the location in Kemah until landlord Archie Patterson terminated his lease in early June. Now, Beainy is suing Patterson, claiming that Patterson is using his intellectual property.
THE BACKSTORY: The untold origin story of Trump Burger: A $250K murder-for-hire plot, ICE arrest and vaccine scam
The pair had already filed lawsuits against one another over the summer. Beainy’s suit accused Patterson of forcing him off the property under threat of law enforcement, without proper notice of default on the lease. Patterson’s suit, in turn, accused Beainy of failing to maintain the property and pay agreed-upon fees, leading to the termination of the lease.
After Beainy left the property, a company in Patterson’s name took over the restaurant and began running it under the name MAGA Burger USA. Beainy’s latest lawsuit alleged that Patterson is using his trademark illegally at the new restaurant, claiming that Beainy has rights to the names “Trump Burger,” “Trump Burger MAGA” and “MAGA Burger.”
In the lawsuit, Beainy also alleged that he told Patterson of his intent to switch the name from Trump Burger to MAGA Burger in March or April, and that Patterson then staged a “hostile takeover” of the restaurant. Patterson registered a company called MAGA Burger Houston LLC on April 8, and another called MAGA Burger USA on April 14, per the Texas comptroller database — about two months before he terminated Beainy’s lease and took over the restaurant.
Over the phone, Patterson said he hadn’t heard about the lawsuit until the Chronicle reached out, but that he considered it “frivolous.” Patterson also said he was planning to change MAGA Burger’s branding, “steering away from all of that crap,” though he said he wasn’t ready to share the new name.
Trademark experts said they think Beainy’s claim to the restaurant names is suspect.
