The ‘Taco Tuesday’ war is over: Taco Bell wins fight to liberate trademark from rival
Regional restaurant chain Taco John’s has announced it is giving up its fight to protect its trademarked phrase “Taco Tuesday,” saying it plans to use the money needed to do so for charitable causes instead.
The decision comes after Taco Bell announced in May it had filed a legal petition to “liberate” the trademark for “common sense for usage of a common term.”
“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 July 18 in a statement explaining the company's decision.
“As we’ve said before, we’re lovers, not fighters, at Taco John’s. So in that spirit, we have decided to begin sharing Taco Tuesday with a pledge to contribute $100 per location in our system to restaurant employees with children who are battling a health crisis, death or natural disaster,” added Creel. “And we’re challenging our litigious competitors and other taco-loving brands to join us in supporting the people who serve our favorite food to guests across the nation.”
In announcing its decision to drop the matter, Taco John’s also said it will donate $40,000 to the nonprofit organization Children of Restaurant Employees, an organization which bills itself as “dedicated to serving food and beverage operations employees with children to provide financial relief when either the employee, spouse or their child faces a life-altering health crisis, injury, death or natural disaster.”
Creel then fired a saucy salvo of sorts at Taco Bell and other taco chains, big and small.
“Let’s see if our friends at Taco Bell are willing to ‘liberate’ themselves from their army of lawyers by giving back to restaurant families instead,” he said. “We challenge them to match our $100-per-restaurant pledge — that’s about $720,000 — which is less than they’d have to spend in a legal battle for the mark.
“We also invite Del Taco, Taco Bueno, Taco Cabana, Jack In The Box and mom and pop taco shops across the country that intend to use Taco Tuesday in the future to join us in this movement to support working families and donate to CORE.”
Taco Bell was overjoyed with Taco John's decision.
“This is a shared victory with taco allies everywhere,” Taco Bell CEO Mark King said in a statement to TODAY.com. “Taco John’s decision to join the movement and liberate Taco Tuesday means countless businesses big and small, restaurants, and taco vendors can now embrace, celebrate and champion ‘Taco Tuesdays’ freely.
However, celebration is nothing without recognition and reflection. Thank you to the taco fans everywhere who fought by our side, and a thank you to Taco Johns for recognizing what we’ve known all along — when tacos win, we all win.”
In its May filing, Taco Bell said registering “Taco Tuesday” as a trademark was unfair, and even got NBA great LeBron James to help make the phrase available to all.
“Taco Bell believes ‘Taco Tuesday’ should belong to all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos,” it said. “How can anyone Live Más if they’re not allowed to freely say ‘Taco Tuesday?’ It’s pure chaos.”
Taco John's also called out James in its statement, while not using his entire name:
“Taco John’s also encourages noted taco lover, Taco Bell spokesperson and prolific trademark owner LeB*** Ja*** to do his part by donating any fees he received from the latest multi-million-dollar Taco Bell Taco Tuesday ad campaign to CORE.”
No word yet on whether James or Taco Bell will be making any donations.
This article was originally published on TODAY.com
