*LeBron James spent the summer celebrating his love for eating Tacos on Tuesday, and he was even hoping to turn his family tradition into a business
The NBA star applied to trademark “Taco Tuesday” but his application was rejected, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office said “Taco Tuesday” was a “commonplace message,” which means James can not capitalize off the phrase.
No doubt the news is music to the ears of the owners of one Mexican restaurant who feared LeBron’s trademark filing would hurt their business.
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The USPTO has refused the TACO TUESDAY trademark application filed by Lebron James’ company LBJ Trademarks, LLC.
The refusal, issued at 6:26 PM today, finds that TACO TUESDAY is a “commonplace message” and therefore fails to function as a trademark.#TacoTuesday
My analysis? pic.twitter.com/eKcW2l1CnH
— Josh Gerben (@JoshGerben) September 12, 2019
According to documents obtained by The Blast, a company named Taco Tuesday, Inc. filed a letter of protest against James after he tried to trademark “Taco Tuesday.”
Taco Tuesday Mexican Grill is located in Wood Dale, Illinois and has been in business since April 2016. In a letter filed with the trademark office, the company claims the restaurant “specializes in taco sales,” and noted that the “Protestor’s company would be crippled if precluded from using its own business name in Internet marketing channels.”
James applied for the “Taco Tuesday” trademark after he began sharing posts on his social media channels, showing his family enjoying tacos on Tuesday.
A spokesman for James said his lawyers were still looking over the patent office’s findings, but noted that in refusing to trademark the phrase, “the office had essentially offered what Mr. James wanted all along: protection from liability if he used “Taco Tuesday” in certain projects, like podcasts and other media,” writes The New York Times.
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