Finally: Our National Taco Tuesday Nightmare Is Now Fully, 100% Over

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a true sentence, LeBron James teamed up with Taco Bell to launch a public campaign to get both trademark registrations rescinded by the USPTO.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.