Taco Bell is suddenly hungry to fight the “Taco Tuesday” trademarks

May 18, 2023 5:21 AM

Taco Bell has filed a petition to cancel two much smaller rivals' trademarks for "Taco Tuesday", a move that would let its 15,000 US locations use the phrase.
posted by Etrigan (49 comments total)

The rivals should oblige Taco Bell to prove that what it sells are in fact tacos. Let's see how that goes.
posted by chavenet at 5:24 AM on May 18, 2023 [21 favorites]

Reading it closer, I think this makes sense - assuming the trademark decision can be permanently made that genuinely no one can trademark it moving forward. Everyone owns Taco Tuesday.

If a company could trademark Mother’s Day, Hallmark and 1-800-Flowers would be making connections with arms dealers by now over who filed first.
posted by Mchelly at 5:55 AM on May 18, 2023 [13 favorites]

That is such a common, everywhere phrase these days; I'd agree that the cancellation makes sense even if this is really a dispute between Taco Bell and its competitors.
posted by Dip Flash at 6:03 AM on May 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

Do they have a trademark for the three shells?
posted by DirtyOldTown at 6:09 AM on May 18, 2023 [7 favorites]

I've literally never heard of Taco John's before but am very familiar with the term "Taco Tuesday" in widespread general usage.

Nothing personal against them, or this dude in New Jersey, but it's a generic term now.

And according to TFA, Taco John's started out using "Taco Twosday," which, okay, that might actually be trademark-worthy, (I'm not a lawyer, much less a trademark lawyer) but they had to get greedy. And apparently really snippy about sending out cease and desist letters. I think I can agree with capitalist mega-giant Yum Brands on this, even if their motives are predictably self-serving.
posted by Naberius at 6:09 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

If I had tacos for dinner earlier in the week, but I'm not sure it was on a Tuesday, can I join the class-action suit?
posted by mittens at 6:26 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

And apparently really snippy about sending out cease and desist letters.

I'm not a lawyer, but it's my understanding companies can lose their trademarks if they fail to defend them, so this might be why they do that.
posted by joannemerriam at 6:28 AM on May 18, 2023 [9 favorites]

I'll say OK to this when Proctor & Gamble can start printing Kleenex on their tissue boxes.
posted by achrise at 6:29 AM on May 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

> I've literally never heard of Taco John's before

In some parts of the country (for example, where relatives live in South Dakota) there are no Taco Bells and lots of Taco John's. I believe the chain started in Wyoming, and there are lots of them in the upper Midwest and Great Plains states.

That said, in all my travels through that part of the country, I have never eaten at one. I'm not a fan of Taco Bell either, except as a kind of very occasional escapist binge that has nothing to do with wanting Mexican food.

Fun with mondegreens: I feel compelled to admit that many years ago I heard the phrase "Taco Tuesday" from some commercial as "Taco tubesteak" -- which is a weird image that, to this day, I can't get out of my head whenever I hear it.
posted by aught at 6:32 AM on May 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

it's my understanding companies can lose their trademarks if they fail to defend them, so this might be why they do that.

Oh yeah, that's why. Companies go to great lengths. I used to subscribe to Writer's Digest back in the day, and their pages would be full of ads from companies with trademarks at risk of slipping into generic usage "reminding" us of their trademarks and urging us not to use them in the generic sense.

"Remember, they're not Kleenex! They're Kleenex brand facial tissues."

I'm sure this worked. That's probably why whenever someone uses a tissue in a novel or a movie or something, they're referred to as "Kleenex brand facial tissues." In case you were wondering...
posted by Naberius at 6:33 AM on May 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

Taco Tuesday is not only a generic term at this point, but an actual descriptor of behavior. I have a local taqueria that I patronize often. I never get food from them on Tuesdays because they're always slammed.

I'll grant that "Taco Twosday" might have been a genuine trademark, but "Taco Tuesday" is something that sounds more at home on a cafeteria schedule than a list of registered trademarks.
posted by explosion at 6:38 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Taco Bell execs might have to upgrade from aspirin to heroin. They can take the escalator up to the laundromat and put it in their thermos.
posted by bitslayer at 6:42 AM on May 18, 2023 [8 favorites]

Just a reminder that Metafilter trademarked "Friday Flash Fun" and look how that turned out for Adobe.
posted by gwint at 6:42 AM on May 18, 2023 [13 favorites]

Ha ha! I maintain my iron grip on Burrito Bednesdays yet again!
posted by phooky at 6:43 AM on May 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

I'm still wondering who is going to challenge my THAC0 Thursdays event.
posted by Literaryhero at 6:44 AM on May 18, 2023 [37 favorites]

I'm not sure if this is a good idea. It might create a precedent for a larger company to nullify intellectual property of a smaller company because they want to. I'm not interested in whether we feel that it's right that Taco John's holds this trademark.

I'd be very surprised if Taco Bell wanted to use this term and had no interest in stopping other people using it.
posted by scruss at 6:57 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

tacos are delicious and should not be restricted to a single day of the week. this trademark should be struck down for its culinary myopia, and to pave the way for Taco Tworkdays™.
posted by logicpunk at 7:04 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

i am also surprised/disappointed in Vin Diesel that '2aco 2sday' isn't a thing except for a poorly circulated instagram post from last year.
posted by logicpunk at 7:07 AM on May 18, 2023 [10 favorites]

If a company could trademark Mother’s Day, Hallmark and 1-800-Flowers would be making connections with arms dealers by now over who filed first.

So this is how the Franchise Wars begin.
posted by biffa at 7:10 AM on May 18, 2023 [9 favorites]

Trump was deemed guilty of sexual assault and ordered to pay five million on a Tuesday, which I like to think of as a Tacopina Tuesday.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 7:15 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

I've literally never heard of Taco John's before

Taco John's is Taco Bell without aspersions of legitimacy — it owns its status as "Mexican" food, hence Taco John's and not Taco Juan's. Taco John's is amazing when you're drunk/hungover/stoned but in 2-6 hours leaves you questioning your life choices.
posted by nathan_teske at 7:16 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Taco Bell execs might have to upgrade from aspirin to heroin.

Fun fact: Bayer didn't lose the trademarks to aspirin and heroin because of legal maneuvering per se; they lost them (in the Entente countries) as part of the Treaty of Versailles.
posted by Etrigan at 7:20 AM on May 18, 2023 [14 favorites]

I'm still wondering who is going to challenge my THAC0 Thursdays event.
posted by Literaryhero at 9:44 AM on May 18

Oh look, it's why I still love Metafilter
(came in to make almost exactly the same post)
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 7:35 AM on May 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

Taco John's is Taco Bell without aspersions of legitimacy — it owns its status as "Mexican" food, hence Taco John's and not Taco Juan's. Taco John's is amazing when you're drunk/hungover/stoned but in 2-6 hours leaves you questioning your life choices.

I've eaten at Taco John's locations on road trips, and thought it was "fine" in the same way that Taco Bell is "fine." Completely predictable comfort food with ok flavors but low quality ingredients, and zero pretensions to "authenticity." I don't eat at either Taco John's or Taco Bell often enough to have strong opinions about which is better; it's what I eat when I pull off the highway and see which of several bad options looks least bad. I agree that it is food that would be improved by being drunk/stoned late at night.
posted by Dip Flash at 7:42 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Disappointed no one else mentioned the use of Taco Tuesday in the Lego Movie.
posted by emjaybee at 8:07 AM on May 18, 2023 [8 favorites]

I'm surprised it's even trademarked. I don't think I have ever heard it used in relation to a specific company or product.
posted by jmauro at 8:26 AM on May 18, 2023

My high school cafeteria had Taco Tuesdays in the 1990s.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:34 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

When I read about this earlier this week, what really galled me was that although it seems like Taco Bell is probably right from a legal standpoint, this would never work in reverse. If Taco Bell held the trademark, they would hold on to it through every legal (and probably illegal) method possible regardless of the law. Yum is a giant megacorporation, and the the system will enforce the rules in their favor when it's beneficial to them, and ignore the rules when it isn't.
posted by Zargon X at 8:36 AM on May 18, 2023 [15 favorites]

Taco Twosday was a moderately popular regional ad campaign for Taco Johns. American parents and schools cooking up ground beef and then serving it throughout the week in Spaghetti, Chili and Tacos is a fairly common family meal strategy at least among the mountain west white culture of my childhood. For families where dinner together was important the phrase was easily co-opted into Taco Tuesday as a way to sell this regular rotation. Then it got into movies and sitcoms. I don't think anyone has thought about this phrase as being related to Taco Johns and is such a common term that the trademark should be rescinded or narrowed to be specific to Taco Twosday instead the generic Taco Tuesday.
posted by interogative mood at 8:36 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

Okay but what about Huevos Huednesday?
posted by aubilenon at 9:09 AM on May 18, 2023 [14 favorites]

Sundae Sunday has to be a thing, though, right?
posted by Mchelly at 9:17 AM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

<Archer voice>Stir Friday?
posted by joannemerriam at 9:37 AM on May 18, 2023 [12 favorites]

Didn't lebron try this a couple years back and was denied?

yep. just found it.
posted by lkc at 9:38 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

Vaguely related: Toonie Tuesday is back, well sort of… except now it’s called ‘Twosday,’ and it’s nearly $3
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 10:41 AM on May 18, 2023 [1 favorite]

other fun Taco Bell related news that aren't just an obvious marketing ploy and won't improve their brand team's KPIs:

SCOTUS Takes Up Case of More Than 500 Taco Bell Employees Who Say They Were Cheated Out of Overtime Pay

The lawsuit’s lead plaintiff, Robyn Morgan, worked in Iowa as an hourly employee at a Taco Bell owned by Sundance. Morgan and the other plaintiffs allege that Sundance used a number of illegal wage and hour practices, such as forcing workers to clock out before the end of their shifts and “shifting” employees’ hours from the week they actually worked to the following week in order to deprive workers of overtime pay.

Taco's tomato pickers on slave wages

The American fast food giant Taco Bell has been buying tomatoes produced by slave and sweatshop labour, according to a group of Florida tomato pickers who held a 10-day hunger strike outside the company's headquarters. [...] A spokeswoman for Taco Bell said that the protest was "misdirected" and that the company [does not] interfere in the labour relations arrangements of other companies.

Calif. Taco Bell ADA Class Action Settlement Preliminarily Approved

On Wednesday, a California federal judge preliminarily approved Taco Bell Corp.’s $5.4 million class action settlement with a group of disabled customers who alleged the fast food company failed to make its restaurants accessible to people with disabilitie. The Taco Bell ADA lawsuit challenged certain architectural barriers, including inadequate parking spaces, doors that are too heavy to be opened by people with limited mobility and queue lines that are too narrow for wheelchairs. According to the class action settlement documents, the Taco Bell ADA litigation has been ongoing for nearly a dozen years.
posted by paimapi at 10:47 AM on May 18, 2023 [9 favorites]

For me, Taco John's was notable for its coin-shaped, somewhat-oversalted tater tots, which were great when I was in the right mood--and, thinking about it, it's been so long since I've been to a TJs that "the right mood" might equal "drunk."
posted by Halloween Jack at 11:14 AM on May 18, 2023 [6 favorites]

My local taco joint is above the fray--they offer $1.29 Tostada Tuesdays and $1.29 Taco Thursdays.
posted by JDC8 at 11:45 AM on May 18, 2023

Copyright and trademark and patent laws are all always shitty and ultimately serve to keep people from their rightful collective property. All good ideas and concepts you have are built upon those of other humans stretching back since the dawn of the species, maybe before, and are thus the communal property of everyone at all times.
posted by GoblinHoney at 12:41 PM on May 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

That new lock on the barn door is going to keep the horses nice and secure.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:42 PM on May 18, 2023

I'm taking this opportunity to remind people that the best corporate trademark-anti-dilution advertisement was this music video called Don't Say Velcro which includes the phrase, "You call it 'velcro' but we're begging you, this is <bleep>ing 'hook & loop'!"
posted by WaylandSmith at 3:28 PM on May 18, 2023 [5 favorites]

to pave the way for Taco Tworkdays™.

Not to be confused with Taco Twerkdays.
posted by nickmark at 4:18 PM on May 18, 2023 [2 favorites]

coin-shaped, somewhat-oversalted tater tots
These are called Potato Oles. You can get a similar thing with Burger King breakfast, but both should be left in the fryer a few more seconds, imho.
posted by soelo at 5:06 PM on May 18, 2023 [4 favorites]

No discussion of Tacos is complete without the story of Trevor Noah going to LA and eating Tacos for the first time.
posted by interogative mood at 6:52 PM on May 18, 2023 [3 favorites]

I just heard the phrase "taco Tuesday" on a McCormick spice ad on Food Network.
posted by feistycakes at 7:37 PM on May 18, 2023

I've literally never heard of Taco John's before

there's one in Fond du Lac WI which was the first one taquito boyfriend (a Californian) ever saw or heard of, I know this because he went from perfectly calm to absolute horrified sputtering, "TACO JOHN?? This town is so white that it gets its tacos from a man named JOHN??"

I've never eaten there but I did use to get a "burrito" and tater tots from the Mexicanna (sic) Express that used to be down the street from the high school past the Kwik Trip where everyone smoked in the parking lot, the tots were actually pretty good
posted by taquito sunrise at 10:03 PM on May 18, 2023

Metafilter: "the right mood" might equal "drunk."
posted by Naberius at 6:05 AM on May 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

the tots were actually pretty good

but were they hardcore?
posted by chavenet at 6:34 AM on May 19, 2023 [1 favorite]

Let them have Taco Tuesday. I'm going to trademark Lengua Luna, Molé Miércoles, Jarritos Jueves & Jalapeno Jueves, Volcano Taco Viernes (just to get back at Taco Bell, Sopa Sabado, y Dulce de Leche Domingo.
posted by The_Vegetables at 8:09 AM on May 19, 2023 [2 favorites]

coin-shaped, somewhat-oversalted tater tots

I believe you'll find that those are called "potato olés" and they are fucking brilliant.
posted by aspersioncast at 5:40 PM on May 19, 2023 [1 favorite]