Correction: Our National Taco Tuesday Nightmare Is Over, Except In New Jersey
It appears I slightly exaggerated the state of the Taco Tuesday trademark saga in my last post. After decades of ridiculous bullying coming from Taco John's concerning the trademark it somehow was granted on Taco Tuesday" - a term that is generic on its face, became more generic over time, and is also at least partially descriptive - Taco Bell's war on the trademark finally caused Taco John's to relinquish the trademark entirely. And, in that post, I declared the whole saga over.
But that's because I forgot that New Jersey exists. See, Taco John's held the trademark for Taco Tuesday," yes, but only in 49 states. In Jersey, the trademark holder for the term is a small restaurant owned by Gregory Gregory (not a typo) and named, you guessed it, Gregory's Restaurant.
And, according to all accounts and statements from Gregory, he plans to fight Taco Bell's attempt to vacate his trademark.
A New Jersey restaurant is fighting what it calls a David and Goliath" battle over the trademark for Taco Tuesday. Gregory Gregory owns Gregory's Restaurant in New Jersey. He saidhe startedTaco Tuesday in 1979 and trademarked the phrase a few years later. But now he's in a battle with national chain Taco Bell over the trademark.
That leaves Gregory's the lone holdout against Taco Bell. The restaurant doesn't have the same financial power as the chain, but Gregory hopes they can prevail against the larger company.
Indeed, but financial power isn't really the problem here. The problem is that all the reasons that would have been laid out in court against Taco John's would apply in New Jersey as well. And the fact that Taco John's lawyers ostensibly looked at all this and advised their client to run away instead should tell Gregory all he needs to know. The term was generic and descriptive to start with and only became more and more generic over time.
Resistance on this is doomed, in other words. One way or the other, the term Taco Tuesday will be freed.