Last May, Taco Bell entered a legal battle with a Wyoming-based restaurant chain called "Taco John's" over the trademark of the phrase "Taco Tuesday."
Any establishment that wanted to use "Taco Tuesday" needed to seek the permission of Taco John, and Taco Bell wanted that that practice canceled.
Earlier this week, Taco John's announced that it will "abandon" it's fight over the trademark, as they didn't want to pay the legal fills it would take to battle Taco Bell in court.
Taco John's CEO Jim Creel said in a statement "We've always prided ourselves on being the home of Taco Tuesday, but paying millions of dollars to lawyers to defend our mark just doesn't feel like the right thing to do."
Trademark attorney Josh Gerben told CNN that Taco John's decision to end their fight was "not surprising" because the "phrase became ubiquitous in the marketplace and any attempt to enforce the trademark registration would likely have failed in court."
Gerben said, "Therefore, the trademark registration had little, if any, value left at this point in time. If the case was litigated to the end, Taco John's could have suffered a significant public-relations loss.
"By bowing out of the court fight at this point, given the low probability of winning, Taco John's can work to control the court of public opinion around the issue. "
LISTEN on the Audacy App
