Taco Bell Is Fighting To Cancel Taco Tuesday
Taco Bell is suing to eliminate the patent on Taco Tuesday.
They can take our lives, but they can never take our Pete Davidson-endorsed cheesy chalupa supreme. Taco Bell has filed a petition with the United States patent office to liberate the term Taco Tuesday from its trademark, arguing that the fast food chain, which was founded in California in 1962, should be legally allowed to utilize the term in its content and branding. According to CNN, representatives from Taco Bell have pleaded the argument that the Taco Tuesday phrase “should be freely available to all who make, sell, eat and celebrate tacos.”
This is a bold claim from the Mountain Dew Baja Blast and intestinal distress vendor, maligning rival taco business Taco John’s for their apparent stranglehold on the Taco Tuesday title. Despite being founded more than seven years after Taco Bell and being headquartered over 1,000 miles from the United States-Mexico border in Cheyenne, Wyoming, the lesser-known chain has held a patent on the Taco Tuesday phrase for over 34 years.
Though the common turn of phrase seems like it’s been a mainstay in popular culture since the days of the first tacos and Tuesdays in ancient history, the term was apparently originated by Taco John’s marketing team in the 1980s, in order to move more product on their slowest business day of the week.
Since then, Taco Bell alleges that their nemesis in nacho sales has viciously attacked any competitor who dares to employ the term Taco Tuesday without the permission of Taco John himself. In what is sure to amount to the trial of the century, Taco Bell’s parent company Yum! Brands is seeking to cancel the patent, allowing the Taco Tuesday phrase to be utilized as carelessly as the many strands of cheese sprinkled atop a Doritos Locos Taco, which is designed to litter the interior of your car with evidence that you’ve cheated on your diet, again.
In an apparent act of aguachile aggression, Taco John’s has retaliated to the attempted patent overturning by relaying a spicy message to the public that Taco Bell’s efforts have done nothing but remind the general public of the rightful owners of the Taco Tuesday patent.
Furthermore, the chain has announced a special which sees them offering their Taco Tuesday deal of 2 tacos for only $2 every day until the 31st of May. With this brutal war of attrition just beginning to heat up, there’s simply no telling what the long-term ramifications could be.
According to trademark attorney Josh Gerben, Taco Bell has a very reasonable case for the liberation of the phrase, as United States patent law prevents individuals or corporations from maintaining a patent over a commonly used phrase in modern culture. Although the Crunchwrap Supreme seller may have ultimately dug their own grave with the Taco Tuesday patent suit, providing more media exposure and coverage for their competition than Taco John’s would have ever had without the impending legal battle.
Does Taco Bell have the legal power to extract the Taco Tuesday trademark from the clutches of Taco John’s like Thanos gripping the mind stone out of Vision’s forehead, or will Taco John’s lawyers achieve what Star-Lord could not and grasp victory from the chalupa shell of defeat? For now, all humanity can do is take cover and wait as these industry titans engage in a Godzilla-like battle for trademark supremacy, crushing their competition like corn tortillas crumbling in the hands of a drive-through customer.
