“Taco Tuesday” has recently trended across social media amid a growing effort to free the term from trademark restrictions, with efforts underway in Orange County, California, as well.
Among those petitioning the government to cancel the trademark is the fast food restaurant chain Taco Bell, which is headquartered in Irvine. The company submitted the paperwork to the United States Patent Trademark Office in May. The original trademark is held by Taco John’s, a Wyoming-based restaurant chain.
Taco John’s, which has held the trademark since 1989, has sent cease-and-desist letters to businesses who have used it for advertising, according to The Associated Press. Now Orange County resident and founder of tacotuesday.com Pamela Waitt has thrown her hat into the ring in an attempt to free the term for public use.
“This is not about asking the trademark holder to stop celebrating Taco Tuesday, we’re asking them to recognize that since their trademark was granted, the term has grown well beyond them. Millions of people celebrate Taco Tuesday across the country, in restaurants and at home, and have the right to do so,” said Waitt in a recent statement.
A sign stands outside the corporate headquarters of Cheyenne-based Taco John's in Cheyenne, Wyo., on Aug. 1, 2019. Mead Gruver/AP Photo
“Having ‘Taco Tuesday’ trademarked today can be likened to someone owning ‘Happy Hour’ or ‘Sunday Brunch.’”
Waitt secured the tacotuesday.com domain name in 2019 in order to create a taco search engine, free for local restaurants to promote their Taco Tuesday specials and for taco lovers to search up such deals, according to the website.
Taco Tuesday events boost restaurant revenue on average by 22 percent to 36 percent, reported the website, and nearly 100,000 restaurants in the United States celebrate the weekly event.
However, Taco Bell claimed it isn’t interested in acquiring Taco Tuesday just for itself, but rather to free the term for public use.
“‘Liberating’ Taco Tuesday means canceling the trademark registrations because Taco Tuesday is a common (generic) term. Once Taco Tuesday is ‘liberated,’ no one restaurant will be able to claim they have exclusive rights to use it (especially not us),” Taco Bell stated in a statement on the company’s website. “Taco Bell wants Taco Tuesday to be free for all restaurants and taco vendors to use without fear of a cease-and-desist letter or lawsuit.”
US basketball player LeBron James arrives for Netflix's Los Angeles premiere of "Hustle" held at the Westwood Regency Village Theatre in Los Angeles, Calif. on June 1, 2022. Michael Tran/AFP via Getty Images
The company recently made headlines with a popular ad campaign featuring LeBron James, in which the chain pushed to “Free Taco Tuesday.” The Lakers star previously attempted to acquire the trademark for himself—but was refused in 2019—before joining forces with Taco Bell.
James was denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark office on the basis that Taco Tuesday is “a commonplace term,” media reports at the time stated. According to James’s lawyer following the petition, this outcome was the goal all along in order to free the term for all to use.
Meanwhile, social media users have shared a variety of opinions about the idea.
“I want Taco John’s to keep the Taco Tuesday trademark because them owning it is extremely funny,” one user tweeted as #FreeTacoTuesday began trending on twitter earlier this month.
While debate persists regarding when the first Taco Tuesday special came out, a report from Thrillist suggests that the earliest of such promotions was documented in the 1930s in the El Paso Herald-Post in El Paso, Texas.
