The restaurant chain Taco John's surrendered its "Taco Tuesday" trademark on Tuesday, appropriately enough, ending a battle between the company and its fast-food rival Taco Bell, which sought to free the famous phrase from the bonds of patent law.
The two companies squashed their beef over Taco Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal first reported, after Taco Bell filed a petition in May with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to cancel the trademark that Taco John's has held since 1989.
"It's just not worth the amount of money it would take to defend it," Taco John's Chief Executive Jim Creel told the Journal. "We'd rather take that money and put it toward a good cause."
