"Taco Tuesday" Trademark

[PollyannaMom]

Apparently, the term "Taco Tuesday" is actually trademarked! I just heard a story on the news that Taco Bell is petitioning for the trademark to be repealed (not given to them, just made free for anyone to use).

I personally had no idea it ever was trademarked. I've heard restaurants use it, but I've heard plenty of people use it about making tacos at home too.

Do you think "Taco Tuesday" should no longer be trademarked?

Link to story (Nat'l public Radio)

 

[superme80]

Normally I would say it is too common, but I don't want Taco Bell to use it.

 

[D-Trick]

If they've consistently used the term in their advertising campaigns since 1989, then let them keep it.

 

[BrianL]

Yeah, I mean, if they have a trademark then they have a trademark.

 

[darnheather]

A trademark has to be used consistently to be kept. I've never heard of Taco John's but I've heard of Taco Tuesday.*

*Not a lawyer but training to be one. This is not legal advice and shouldn't be used as such.

 

[WAstateDVCDaddy]

Other reports have also highlighted the many instances cited in Taco Bell’s petition, which demonstrate use of the phrase by other restaurants long before the trademark was filed.

Another example of a company trying to trademark and profit from something that someone else created?

 

[bcla]

I wasn't sure what was up with it. Taco Bell was showing a commercial with LeBron James where he talks about "Taco Tuesday" but it keeps on getting bleeped out with the joke that someone else owns the right - at least until he just yells it out and it's not censored. This has a short vid of him actually saying it, but followed by the 30 second as that I saw a lot during the NBA playoffs.

Apparently LeBron James previously tried to register a trademark with the USPTO and was denied on the basis of of it being too commonplace. But he was trying to use it for his podcast.

https://uspto.report/TM/88579771

There are actually a bunch of "Taco Tuesday" registrations out there, and they're for different things. One is for tequila. This is the one in question. It's probably at the point where the USPTO is going to cancel this as being too vague and where it was probably in widespread use well before they used it.

https://uspto.report/TM/73788518

 

[bcla]

Other reports have also highlighted the many instances cited in Taco Bell’s petition, which demonstrate use of the phrase by other restaurants long before the trademark was filed.

Another example of a company trying to trademark and profit from something that someone else created?

More or less. But from what I understand, Taco John's hasn't really been able to capitalize on their trademark registration. They probably know they would lose if it came down to it.

 

[tvguy]

Sounds like the Trademark office made a mistake in issuing the trademark in the first place.

 

[bcla]

Sounds like the Trademark office made a mistake in issuing the trademark in the first place.

They USPTO puts up the applications for opposition and my understanding is that absent any objections, they generally issue the registrations.

Did you ever hear about the Yosemite trademark registration debacle? Not quite the same, but the licensed operator claimed trademarks of properties that they didn't own and that they didn't even name.

 

[tvguy]

They USPTO puts up the applications for opposition and my understanding is that absent any objections, they generally issue the registrations.

Did you ever hear about the Yosemite trademark registration debacle? Not quite the same, but the licensed operator claimed trademarks of properties that they didn't own and that they didn't even name.

I did hear about the Yosemite mess. Did stories on it.

 

[bcla]

I did hear about the Yosemite mess. Did stories on it.

I thought you'd probably heard of it. But in that case it would have been up to the National Park Service to file an opposition, but they would have to know about it first.

There have been similar attempts more recently by licensed operators, but from what I heard that someone at NPS was probably looking for a list of names to see they popped up in applications.

https://www.knau.org/knau-and-arizo...drops-efforts-to-trademark-grand-canyon-names​

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office now lists some of them as "dead." For others, Xanterra has stated it is abandoning the applications.​

​

Xanterra had sought a trademark for names including Phantom Ranch, Hopi House and El Tovar. The Greenwood Village, Colorado-based company didn't respond Thursday to request for comment.​

​

The National Park Service had said it considers the names to be property of the agency, pursuant to trademark rights under common law.​

 

[goooof1]

.....wait..!! I thought Tuesday was "Red's Tamales Day" !!!!

 

[Babs Johnson]

Anyone can say it, but other companies shouldn’t use the phrase in their marketing.

It appears the trademark owner hasn’t been very protective of its property.

 

[bcla]

Anyone can say it, but other companies shouldn’t use the phrase in their marketing.

It appears the trademark owner hasn’t been very protective of its property.

Nah. It’s most likely unenforceable. All they can really do is have their lawyers send cease and desist warnings. No way would they ever sue anyone since they know they’ll likely get their registration cancelled.

It’s supposed to be something unique that the person or company originated for that purpose. There’s plenty of history showing that “Taco Tuesday” was in use as a restaurant marketing phrase well before Taco John’s claim of 1981. So it’s probably in the public domain.

It doesn’t sound like they’ve sued anyone over it, but likely their selling point is the claim that they came up with the phrase.

 

[Mysterian]

I don't care who has it. Priority: Just keep the tacos coming.

 

[bcla]

They’ve made almost no effort to sue anyone over “Taco Tuesday”. The bigger players all know this, but the smaller ones might freak out when they receive a form letter from an attorney.

https://www.chevys.com/special/taco-tuesday/
https://www.rubios.com/press/rubios-extends-taco-tuesday-pricing-all-day-long/

 

[wenrob]

A trademark has to be used consistently to be kept. I've never heard of Taco John's but I've heard of Taco Tuesday.*

*Not a lawyer but training to be one. This is not legal advice and shouldn't be used as such.

Other reports have also highlighted the many instances cited in Taco Bell’s petition, which demonstrate use of the phrase by other restaurants long before the trademark was filed.

Another example of a company trying to trademark and profit from something that someone else created?

These. I’ve never heard of Taco John’s but have been saying “Taco Tuesday” since I can remember. All the Mexican restaurants around here use it. Didn’t even know it was trademarked until the Taco Bell commercials.

In the crafting community we use the term “cheat glitter.” Basically it’s putting a translucent glitter over paint and it appears that color. There are hundreds of glitters that can be used for this and hundreds of creators who have used the term for years. I don’t think you’d be able to nail down who actually said it first. In a spectacular crappy move (IMO) one company decided to trademark it. Everyone avoided using the term for awhile but eventually went back to using it I suspect for the reasons given in the posts above.

In both cases it was never either companies to begin with. I vote free “Taco Tuesday.”

 

[bcla]

Taco Bell has links to all the filings here:

https://www.tacobell.com/freeing-taco-tuesday

 

[bcla]

Taco John's is dropping their fight and now "Taco Tuesday" will be in the public domain - at least with regards to the restaurant business.

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/18/business/taco-tuesday-lawsuit-ends/index.html​

Taco John’s, the regional chain that has “Taco Tuesday” trademarked, announced Tuesday that it’s ending its fight in defending the phrase and will “abandon” it because it doesn’t want to pay the legal fees that come with a fight against Taco Bell.​

​

“We’ve always prided ourselves on being the home of Taco Tuesday, but paying millions of dollars to lawyers to defend our mark just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do,” Taco John’s CEO Jim Creel said in a statement.​