Whataburger Rivals Kept Both Names

In 1950, two men named Harmon Dobson and Paul Burton opened Whataburger in Corpus Christi, Texas, while a man named Jack Branch separately opened What-A-Burger near Newport News, Virginia. The companies remained unaware of each other until they began corresponding around 1970, but neither took legal action for another three decades. In 2002 and 2003, the two hamburger chains sued each other over alleged trademark infringement. In 2004, an appeals court upheld the Texas company's trademark but ruled that the Virginia chain had caused no harm or reasonable confusion over whether its burgers came from Texas or Virginia, allowing both businesses to keep their names.

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