By Chris Chase
Gulf Marine Products (GMP), a Louisiana-based importer of crawfish, is suing A La Carte Specialty Foods (ALC), claiming the latter company has violated its trademarks by using the Boudreaux brand.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. Eastern District Court of Louisiana, GMP claims the company, controlled by its president, Karl D. Turner, previously had an arrangement to use the Boudreaux brand. However, GMP said it terminated that authorization, but ALC continued to use the brand.
“Because the Defendants have engaged in willful counterfeiting, GMP seeks up to [USD] 2 million [EUR 1.7 million] in statutory damages, attorney’s fees, and the seizure and destruction of all remaining infringing products,” the complaint states.
GMP also claims that the competing company continues to use its UPC codes under a new brand “Fansea,” falsely associating the company’s products with the Boudreaux brand.
GMP said it is the largest importer of crawfish in the world, with annual sales of USD 200 million (EUR 170 million). It said prior to terminating the deal, ALC operated as a licensee of the company and used the Boudreaux mark on its breaded oysters.
According to the complaint, that arrangement was due to close familial ties between the two companies. ALC was formed in 2003, and the company’s former co-owner, Betty Chu Lee, is the wife of GMP’s owner Edward Lee.
“Because of the close ties of family and friendship between the owners of the two companies, GMP and ALC never memorialized their license agreement in a signed written agreement,” the complaint states.
The two companies shared an office in Louisiana, and GMP claims it exercised control over the “nature and quality” of ALC’s Boudreaux-branded oyster products.
“GMP’s principal, Edward Lee, personally introduced ALC’s principal, Karl Turner, to the Chinese oyster supplier and packager that ALC uses for its Boudreaux’s-branded oysters,” the complaint states. “ALC stored its finished Boudreaux’s-branded product in GMP’s cold storage warehouse, which GMP inspected for quality.”
According to the lawsuit, GMP was amenable to ALC and Turner’s use of the branding, and ALC never filed any opposition to GMP’s registration of the brand in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). GMP filed to register the trademark for the mark on seafood, including oysters, in 2011, and on 1 February 2018, the registration gained incontestable status.
GMP terminated the license to use the Boudreaux trademark in October 2025 after notifying Turner that the company had determined the brand should be used solely by GMP and requested a timeline from ALC on how long it would take to transition away from using the mark.
In an email sent by Turner, he acknowledged that the Bourdeaux brand of breaded oysters is well known and respected.
“That comes as no surprise to me after 20 years of investing in and building the brand; Boudreaux’s Homestyle Breaded Oysters is the number one selling brand in foodservice and retail,” Turner wrote.
However, he said he could not continue to broker and further build it, as “I would have no ownership in it.”
“My plan now is to reinvent and launch during the new season production, and I will continue serving customers with my current inventory until it is exhausted,” he wrote.
On 5 March 2026, GMP sent formal demands to ALC to cease all use of the Bourdeaux brand and vacate the office space and storage facilities at GMP. The complaint claims ALC never responded to its demands and continued to sell seafood under the Boudreaux brand after 10 April 2026. It also claims it offered to purchase all of ALC’s stock of Boudreaux-branded oysters, though it doesn’t specify what the price was.
ALC instead moved its product to a different warehouse, which GMP claims meant it no longer had quality control over the oysters and, thus, could not ensure it met the Boudreaux standard. ALC went on to sell that product under the Boudreaux mark, which GMP claims means they were non-genuine, counterfeit goods.
Then, ALC continued to use the UPC associated with the Boudreaux trademark on its new Fansea brand, and GMP claims it has no right to use those codes as they incorporate the company’s prefix, calling the use “particularly egregious” because they are the sole property of GMP.
“ALC is now using that identical code for its Fansea-branded product. This creates confusion throughout the supply chain: Retailers and distributors that scan this code associate it with GMP’s Boudreaux’s product, not ALC’s Fansea product,” the complaint said.
The lawsuit also claims Turner is personally liable for the trademark infringement and that the conduct of ALC was “knowing and willful.”
ALC has yet to file a response to the complaint, which was filed on 12 June.
