‘Taco Tuesday’ trademark tiff flares anew between fast food competitors

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — A tiff over Taco Tuesday is heating up, with Taco Bell asking U.S. regulators to force a Wyoming-based fast-food chain to abandon its longstanding claim to “Taco Tuesday” as a trademark. Taco Bell says in a filing with the U.S. Patent and Trade Office dated Tuesday that too many businesses use “Taco Tuesday” for Cheyenne-based Taco John’s to claim exclusive rights to the phrase.

“Taco Bell believes ‘Taco Tuesday’ is critical to everyone’s Tuesday. To deprive anyone of saying ‘Taco Tuesday’ — be it Taco Bell or anyone who provides tacos to the world — is like depriving the world of sunshine itself,” the Taco Bell filing reads.

A key question is whether “Taco Tuesday” over the years has succumbed to “genericide,” New York trademark law attorney Emily Poler said. That’s the term for when a word or phrase become so widely used for similar products — or in this case, sales promotions — they’re no longer associated with the trademark holder.

Taco John’s has tried vigorously to enforce its claim to “Taco Tuesday” over the years, sending warning letters far and wide to restaurants with Taco Tuesday promotions. Taco John’s first response to Taco Bell? A new Taco Tuesday promotion.