“White relied upon the language and images displayed on the front label of the Product, and at the time of purchase understood the Product to be a Texas product,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit claims that Texas Pete’s label, which depicts “the famed white ‘lone’ star from the Texan flag together with a ‘lassoing’ cowboy,” deceived White into thinking he was “distinctly Texan.” Surprisingly, they are not at all Texas, the lawsuit said.
“In revealing the thought process behind its brand name, (T.W. Garner Food Co.) admits that Texas’s reputation was one they were trying to mimic and capitalize on when creating their brand,” the lawsuit stated. “By representing that its Texas Pete brand hot sauce products are Texas products, when they are not, [T.W. Garner Food Co.] has cheated its way to a market-leading position in the $3 billion hot-sauce industry at the expense of law-abiding competitors and consumers nationwide who desire authentic Texas hot sauce and reasonably, but incorrectly, believe that is what they are getting when they purchase Texas Pete.”
