Finally: Our National Taco Tuesday Nightmare Is Now Fully, 100% Over
from the let's-taco-bout-it dept
It’s over. It’s finally over. The battle to end the trademark registrations for “Taco Tuesday” began years and years ago, mostly after Taco John’s wielded the trademark haphazardly to occasionally threaten other taco joints with legal action. Less spotlighted was Gregory’s Bar & Restaurant, which held the trademark for the phrase in the one state that Taco John’s didn’t, New Jersey. But, and if you haven’t been following this story I swear to god this next collection of words forms a true sentence, LeBron James teamed up with Taco Bell to launch a public campaign to get both trademark registrations rescinded by the USPTO. As a result, Taco John’s finally agreed to just give up this fight it was doomed to lose. But the owner of Gregory’s Bar & Restaurant, who’s name is — sigh — Gregory Gregory (duplicate is not a typo), vowed to fight to keep his trademark in New Jersey.
But now that fight is over, too. Taco Bell released a statement indicating that Gregory’s has relinquished its trademark as well.
After a months-long battle with a Jersey Shore bar and restaurant over the trademark for Taco Tuesday, fast food giant Taco Bell said in a press release Tuesday that the trademark to the name had been relinquished.
“When we set out to free Taco Tuesday, we did it for all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos,” said Taco Bell Chief Global Brand and Strategy Officer and incoming Chief Executive Officer, Sean Tresvant. “Taco Bell wants everyone to have the opportunity to celebrate Taco Tuesday.”
Well, that’s almost certainly bullshit, of course. Taco Bell wants to be able to use the phrase “Taco Tuesday”, that’s why it fought this fight. But here’s the thing: it should be able to. As we’ve talked about at length in previous posts, these trademarks never should have been granted in the first place, and certainly became totally generic after years and years of use by multiple other parties in a multitude of ways.
And here’s the really frustrating thing: Taco Bell’s fight to overturn these trademarks has probably generated more business for Gregory’s than the stupid trademark it had in the first place.
Despite his frustration with the recent battles over the name, Gregory also acknowledged the publicity his fight with Taco Bell has generated for his business.
“We have gotten a lot of customers that were new because they saw it,” he said.
I’m not typically in the business of cheering on big companies defeating small companies at, well, mostly anything, frankly. But this whole things was dumb from the jump. Taco Tuesday is free for all to use. It’s finally over.
Filed Under: gregory gregory, new jersey, taco tuesday, trademark
Companies: gregory's bar & restaurant, taco bell, taco john's
Comments on “Finally: Our National Taco Tuesday Nightmare Is Now Fully, 100% Over”
looks like it”s on to Burrito Wednesday.
wen
Burrito Wednesday
It's finally over!
Time to celebrate! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eRdN6ayc5hM
I hate that I was on the side of the massive food conglomerate here. That said: Taco Bell was in the right, so the result is correct even if the road to that result was made from hellfire. But hey, at least we’ll never have to hear about this specific trademark bullshit ever again. Now who wants some hot dogs?
Re:
Are we certain that no one can successfully file for the trademark in the future?
Re: Re:
Given that Taco Bell would likely file to prevent that trademark from being recognized? I doubt anyone would want to poke that corporate behemoth of a bear for the sake of trying to trademark a phrase that should’ve never been trademarked in the first place.
Re: Re: Re: Super Bowl
Now we need someone to take on the NFL
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Naw man, they just happened to be on the same side as you.
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I can’t believe I’m saying, “No, actually Taco Bell is the better taco place.”
Ergo…. Gregory Gregory gave up Gregory’s government grant regarding general usage of the slogan?
Checks out. That dude was secretly Mumm-Ra in disguise.
That first paragraph is quite something. I see why you prefaced so much of it with “I swear this is real”.
Taco John and Gregory's Restuarant
I am on the other side of the fence on this one, at least for Gregory’s. Gregory’s is a small bar/restaurant in Somers Point, NJ. I have lived in the area for over 50 years. In the late 80s, Gregory’s came up with original Taco Tuesday when he would discount his famous tacos. He tradmarked the term.
Taco Bell, instead of licensing the trademark, sued Taco John and Gregory’s. It cost Taco John and Gregory’s tens of thousands maybe even hundreds of thousands of dollars to fight Taco Bell. Taco John couldn’t sustain the legal fees so gave up the Tradmark. Gregory’s held on and vowed to fight, but the cost was too much for Gregory’s to bear and had to give up the trademark too.
At least in NJ, Gregory’s never went after any bars or local restaurants that used Taco Tuesday. I am sure that, if Taco Bell had asked, that they would have licensed the term to them. Instead of working with the two companies, they SUED because they have deep pockets (parent company is Chinese) so they don’t have to worry, just sue them out of existence.
They won, family owned businesses 0