It doesn’t look like Lebron James will have the legal rights to the phrase “Taco Tuesday” after all. The United States Patent and Trademark Office has denied the basketball superstar the rights to copyright the phrase, according to Josh Gerben of the Gerben Law Firm on Wednesday.
For the past few weeks, James has been recording videos of himself yelling out “it’s Taco Tuuuesday,” to celebrate his family taco night. James sometimes even includes surprise celebrity guests like his Los Angeles Lakers teammate Anthony Davis and rapper 2 Chainz.
However, the patent office said the phrase is “a commonplace term, message or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment.”
The trademark application was filed on James’ behalf back in August through his company, LBJ Trademarks LLC, with the intention of using “Taco Tuesday” for “podcasting services,” as well as “online entertainment services… and social media posts in the field of sports, entertainment, current events and popular culture.”
But according to the Gerben Law Firm, a trademark for “Techno Taco Tuesday” already exists, which would block “a portion” of the application. A company named Taco Tuesday, Inc. also disputed the trademark application because their Mexican restaurant that’s based in Illinois “specializes in taco sales,” and has been using the phrase in their advertising.
