A fast-food chain is in the middle of a food fight as they seek to free “Taco Tuesday” from its trademark in the US.

Since 1989, a US-based restaurant called Taco John’s has owned the phrase “Taco Tuesday.”

But Taco Bell says that trademarking a “common phrase” like that is akin to “depriving the world of sunshine itself” and argues that anyone should be free to use the phrase without the possibility of facing legal action.

So, they’re taking it to the US Trademark Office in hopes of freeing the phrase. In a petition filed on Tuesday, Taco Bell said that they believe “‘Taco Tuesday’ should be freely available to all who make, sell, eat, and celebrate tacos” and want to cancel the trademark registration.

“How can we tell our fans to Live Más if their favourite taco joints aren’t even allowed to freely say “Taco Tuesday”? Anything else is menos,” reads the petition.

 

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In response, Taco John’s issued a release and CEO Jim Creel said that “when it comes right down to it, we’re lovers, not fighters…but when a big, bad bully threatens to take away the mark our forefathers originated so many decades ago, well, that just rings hollow to us. If ‘living más’ means filling the pockets of Taco Bell’s army of lawyers, we’re not interested.”

What do you think of this food fight? Is “Taco Tuesday” a phrase everyone should use, or is Taco Bell picking on the little guy here?

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