Welcome to HubSpot Marketing News! Tap in for campaign deep dives, the latest marketing industry news, and tried-and-true insights from HubSpotโs media team.
In most cases, the pursuit of good vibes isnโt enough to overturn a trademark โ but Taco Bell is certainly trying.
The popular fast-food chain set its sights on the term โTaco Tuesdayโ which it wants to use freely to promote salesย happiness among taco lovers. Thereโs just one problem.
Though the phrase is frequently used in conversation, itโs actually a registered trademark owned by the Wyoming-based chain Taco Johnโs and has been since 1989.
On May 16, Taco Bell filed a petitionย with the USPTO requesting the reversal of the trademark, claiming the term is too common and widely used for Taco Johnโs to maintain the rights to it. Taco Bell claims the goal in this filing is to โliberateโ the term for any and all restaurants to use freely.
Itโs not the first time โTaco Tuesdayโ has been involved in trademark controversy.
In 2019 Lebron James attempted to trademark the term but was turned downย by the PTO because it was too widely used. Naturally, James released a statementย supporting Taco Bellโs efforts to overturn the trademark and is now starring in the companyโs latest ad called โTaco Bleep.โ
Image Source
Through the companyโs statement, the public petitionย on change.org, and the partnership with James, the liberation of โTaco Tuesdayโ feels more like a marketing campaign than a legal pursuit.
However, Taco Johnโs isnโt taking the challenge lying down. The company released a (hilariously petty) statementย in response to Taco Bell announcing a new Tuesday special offering two tacos for $2.
In the statement, Taco Johnโs CEO Jim Creel says, โIโd like to thank our worthy competitors at Taco Bell for reminding everyone that Taco Tuesdayยฎ is best celebrated at Taco Johnโsยฎ.โ
Weโre anxiously awaiting the USPTOโs response to this taco sagaโฆ
Elsewhere in Marketing
The latest marketing news and strategy insights.
Twitter fingers:ย pew research released new insightsย into how Twitter user behavior has changed since Elon Muskโs acquisition of the platform.
Metaย just rolled out a performance-based ad revenue share modelย to replace its Reels Play bonus program that sunset earlier this year.
โฆAlso in Meta news:ย the company was just hit with a record $1.3 billion fineย for violating E.U. data privacy rules.
Googleย announced plans to removeย inactive Gmail accounts beginning in December 2023.
Tellyย introduces free TVs that feature a constant stream of adsย and track user data.
The latest on AI: the HubSpot Marketing Blog just released the State of Generative AI, featuring new data from over 1300 marketers.