LeBron James reportedly wanted to trademark "Taco Tuesday." Unfortunately, his quest to do so is put to a halt, because the United States Patent and Trademark Office denied his company's request outright.
According to the Trademark Office, the phrase cannot be trademarked because it is not that unique. It is already a very "commonplace term, message or expression widely used by a variety of sources that merely conveys an ordinary, familiar, well-recognized concept or sentiment."
Why did James even think "Taco Tuesday" is uniquely his? One good reason is that it has become his habit to post his family's taco nights on Instagram stories every Tuesday. He already has t-shirts printed for the said weekly vacation even. So Tuesdays for him really is Taco Tuesdays. Not only does his fans know about this, but also his New Lakers teammates. One teammate, Anthony Davis, appeared on one of his IG stories on Taco Tuesdays over the summer.
LeBron's camp is very positive about the denial though. No hard feelings.
"Finding 'Taco Tuesday' as commonplace achieves precisely what the intended outcome was, which was getting the U.S. government to recognize that someone cannot be sued for its use," the spokesman told ESPN.
Twitter users are determined to shame him on this particular rejection, though.
According to Mitu, there was a "collective WTF" moment when it was first known that James was trying to trademark the phrase in the first place. Nobody thought he could be serious. His trademark request came with the intention to use it exclusively for his podcasting services and other online entertainment services, including social media posts. Had it been approved, no one can use "Taco Tuesday" for advertising and ad marketing purposes without paying James anymore.
The chances of approval, however, Twitter users pointed out, were very slim. Every taco joint actually uses it for marketing already every Tuesday night. As such, many found the rejection quite amusing and proceeded to rub salt to the wound.
@BetoORourke has just as much chance of being the Dems Nominee as @KingJames trademarking #TacoTuesday... oh wait LOL! — Josh "Chewy" Acut® (@LiveWithChewy) September 13, 2019
"That's right people! #TacoTuesday belongs to toda la gente! I don't care how many coins you've got or what you do, you can't take that away from us," one Twitter user wrote.
Some sarcastically wondered what he might try to trademark next. "Throwback Thursday, Casual Friday, Hump Day, Thirsty Thursday, Flashback Friday, Man Crush Monday...are they all at risk of being trademarked these days?," one Twitter user hilariously wrote. Some gifs and memes over the rejection were even funnier.
#TacoTuesday is free for everyone to use. #LeBronJames pic.twitter.com/4B70fhNsra — DiscoDiva (@DiscoDiva) September 12, 2019
