Taco Tuesday
Lauren Konrai- Mori
Taco Tuesday - FREE at last!
We previously released an article talking about Taco Bell’s cancellation proceeding to free TACO TUESDAY. We are happy to update you that TACO TUESDAY is finally free in all 50 states!
To provide some background information, Taco Bell filed two cancellation proceedings on May 16, 2023. Both cancellation proceedings were for registered trademarks, TACO TUESDAY covering restaurant services.
One registered mark was owned by Taco John’s Seasonings Limited Partnership, who assigned their rights to Spicy Seasonings, LLC in 2020. Taco Johns’ trademark rights were nationwide, except for New Jersey.
The second TACO TUESDAY trademark registration was owned by Gregory Hotel, Inc. This registration was geographically limited to consist solely of New Jersey. Once the petitions to cancel the registrations were filed, Taco Bell took to the media. They even got LeBron James to advocate for freeing Taco Tuesday.
So, what happened since our last update? Taco Johns settled the case with Taco Bell and the TACO TUESDAY registration was cancelled on August 1, 2023. At that point, no one knew if Gregory Hotel would also settle and cancel their registration. However, on October 20, 2023, Gregory Hotel filed a voluntary surrender of their registration, and the registration was officially cancelled on October 25, 2023.
What does this mean for Taco Tuesday at your favorite restaurant? There was no definitive decision declaring that TACO TUESDAY is generic for restaurant services. However, the USPTO and TTAB have continuously found TACO TUESDAY to fail to function as a trademark for various goods and services such as beer, kitchen appliances, digital and marketing services, podcasting, and social media websites.
But as of October 25, 2023, it appears all restaurants are free to use TACO TUESDAY without fear of receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Taco John’s or Gregory Hotel.
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