It was announced by Taco John's on Tuesday that they will be relinquishing their ownership of the trademark for "Taco Tuesday" in the United States.

The company had owned the trademark for over 40 years, however, due to recent disputes regarding the rightful owner of the name, the company ultimately reached a settlement.

“We’ve always prided ourselves on being the home of Taco Tuesday, but paying millions of dollars to lawyers to defend our mark just doesn’t feel like the right thing to do,” Taco John's CEO Jim Creel said in a statement. “As we’ve said before, we’re lovers, not fighters at Taco John’s. So in that spirit, we have decided to begin sharing Taco Tuesday with a pledge to contribute $100 per location in our system to restaurant employees with children who are battling a health crisis, death or natural disaster. And we’re challenging our litigious competitors and other taco-loving brands to join us in supporting the people who serve our favorite food to guests across the nation.”

The fight for Taco Tuesday

On May 16, Taco Bell launched a petition to release the trademark of "Taco Tuesday", because the restaurant wanted the phrase available for anyone who wants to use it "to make, sell, eat, and celebrate tacos."

If a restaurant or company legally wanted to use "Taco Tuesday" in their branding or advertising, they previously had to obtain permission from Taco John's.

"Taco Bell is honoring people’s right to come together and celebrate the joys of tacos, on Tuesdays and every other day," the filing said. “Nobody should have exclusive rights in a common phrase.”

After Tuesday's decision, Taco John's challenged their competitors to prioritize supporting workers over hiring lawyers.

“Let’s see if our friends at Taco Bell are willing to ‘liberate’ themselves from their army of lawyers by giving back to restaurant families instead,” Creel said. “We challenge them to match our $100-per-restaurant pledge – that’s about $720,000 – which is less than they’d have to spend in a legal battle for the mark. We also invite Del Taco, Taco Bueno, Taco Cabana, Jack In The Box and mom and pop taco shops across the country that intend to use Taco Tuesday in the future to join us in this movement to support working families and donate to CORE.”

The dispute over the term "Taco Tuesday" predates Taco Bell's petition, too, according to the Associated Press. An attorney for Gregory's Restaurant & Bar in Somers Point, New Jersey, claimed his client trademarked the term before Taco John's did in the 1970s. Both Taco John's and Gregory's Restaurant & Bar reached an agreement in the 1990s to divide the ownership of the trademark between New Jersey and the rest of the United States.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Taco Tuesday ownership lawsuit ends as Taco Bell, Taco John's settle