Taco Tuesday is a lot of things to a lot of different people: a state of mind, a lifestyle … or maybe just a bit of handy alliteration to remind us that the second day of the traditional work week would be a great time for some taco goodness.
But we also now have a definitive ruling on what Taco Tuesday is not: It is not a phrase that can be trademarked, something LeBron James nevertheless tried to do.
His trademark application was denied by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, per ESPN, because it's a "commonplace term" (even if taco enthusiasts like me know that tacos themselves are hardly ordinary).
But maybe the taco-loving LeBron achieved his objective anyway? Per a spokesman for James: "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."
Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. mrand@startribune.com
