14
votes
Taco John's trademarked "Taco Tuesday" under fire from rival Taco Bell
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- Title
- Wyoming-based Taco John's denies Taco Bell's claim that it's 'not cool' to own Taco Tuesday trademark - East Idaho News
- Published
- Jun 26 2023
- Word count
- 466 words
I love that Taco Bell is considering discovery that includes a survey of how many Americans associate the phrase “Taco Tuesday” with Taco John’s or its owner.
This is my first time ever hearing of Taco John’s, let alone anyone owning the phrase. I’d say Taco John’s has already given up the exclusive trademark because it’s used all over the place.
I posted this article hoping to get an outsiders point of view. I grew up in Wyoming and have ALWAYS associated Taco Tuesday with Taco John's, but it never occurred to me it was trademarked. They aren't a very large company in comparison to Taco Bell, but I would be upset I think if they lost this due to their physical imprint.
Also, if you ever want the best side dish ever invented, track down a TJ's and get an order of potato oles (but not a large, it's literally half a pound of food). Thank me later.
I'm in California, where Taco Tuesday is practically a religion, and until this post I'd gone 39 years without ever even hearing the name Taco John's.
I grew up in the Midwest. I enjoy Taco Johns as much as anyone but they should lose this case not because they're a smaller corporation but because "Taco Tuesday" is a pretty common event/phrase in many dining settings. My school cafeteria had a Taco Tuesday, for example. Not many people associate it with Taco Johns.
I am in the same boat. I saw the title and thought "the fuck is a Taco Johns." I had no idea where taco Tuesday came from, so they are already at risk at losing that trade mark. So it makes sense that Taco Bell is challenging them on it.
I grew up in a small west Texas town eating potato ole's at Taco Johns. It was a sad, sad day when it closed.
Colorado by way of Maine here. We have Taco John's around Denver, and I never associated it with Taco Johns either. Though now it makes sense why all the small legit Mexican places advertise Taco Tuesday around here but none of the chains do.
I grew up using Taco Tuesday without any knowledge of a Taco John’s. A few years ago, we moved to the Midwest and tried Taco John’s. I feel based on how disgusting Taco John’s is, that they should relinquish any rights to anything taco related.
I concur. We are concurrent.
Only time i've heard of Taco Johns is in reference to them suing anyone who uses Taco Tuesday (I guess the Lego movie paid for it?)
Companies trademark their ad slogans all the time; "I'm lovin' it", "When you're here, you're family", "Where doers get more done" etc. Those slogans were popularized by their ads and marketing, they can become commonplace and even be from forgotten origins. As long as you allow companies to trademark slogans it shouldn't matter if the public has forgotten where it came from. And if you were going to disallow a trademark then it should have been contested back when it was filed, was it commonplace then before they trademarked it? I sure as shit know people were saying "I'm lovin' it" long before it was trademarked as a slogan.
Taco Johns should keep their trademark and Taco Bell should innovate better ad space.
Isn't this the definition of a genericized trademark? I'm not aware of a fast-food specific example, but "the public has forgotten where it came from" seems to be the very definition of a trademark that has become genericized .
I have been to Taco Johns a few times and I didn't know until now that they owned the trademark to Taco Tuesday, let alone had a deal on their tacos every Tuesday. Taco Johns is in 23 states, so I'm curious to see how many people actually identify Taco Tuesday with them. I don't think things are looking good for them though.
There's a small Mexican chain by me called Tijuana Flats, and I'm sure they use "Taco Tuesday" in their promotions. Regardless, every Tuesday they have taco specials which are delicious, so who cares about the name, as long as the food is good!