Baskin-Robbins vs. Haagen-Dazs : A Cold War Erupts Over Naming Ice Cream Flavor

A cold war has erupted between ice cream manufacturers Baskin-Robbins and Haagen-Dazs over a popular flavor called Pralines ‘N Cream, or Pralines & Cream, depending on where you buy your ice cream.

Baskin-Robbins Ice Cream Co. on Friday filed suit against Haagen-Dazs of Englewood Cliffs, N.J., charging that the Pillsbury Co. subsidiary infringed on a Baskin-Robbins trademark and engaged in unfair competition by introducing a flavor last October under the name Pralines & Cream at about 300 dipping stores. Glendale-based Baskin-Robbins’ most popular flavor is Pralines ‘N Cream, a rich vanilla ice cream laced with a caramel ribbon and toffee-coated pecans.

“We are a real flavor innovator,” and Pralines ‘N Cream “is one of the most effective competitive tools” available to Baskin-Robbins’ more than 3,000 franchised dipping stores, President Ronald B. Marley said Tuesday. The Pralines ‘N Cream name has been registered with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office since Sept. 4, 1979, he said.

Determined to Fight

“It’s really important that we pursue this,” Marley said. “We feel very strongly that wherever it goes--no matter how many appeals it takes or how many years--we’re going to fight it.”

The suit, filed in federal court in Dallas, seeks triple the actual damages, which weren’t specified in the suit and will be determined later, Marley said. Baskin-Robbins won a temporary restraining order Friday blocking the sale of the ice cream, but the order was removed Monday.

(Baskin-Robbins chose to file the suit in Dallas because of the court’s relatively small backlog of cases compared to cities such as Los Angeles, Marley said.)

Pillsbury spokesman Johnny Thompson said Haagen-Dazs believes that the Pralines & Cream names is “generic” and describes the ingredients of the ice cream. “We find ourselves at a bit of a loss as to how you would describe that flavor” other than with the name Pralines & Cream, he said.

Minneapolis-based Pillsbury and Baskin-Robbins had been discussing the trademark issue, and Friday’s suit was an “absolute surprise,” Thompson said.

Talks ‘Dragged On’

Marley said Baskin-Robbins filed suit because the discussions had been “dragging on” and company officials felt Haagen-Dazs and Pillsbury weren’t interested in resolving the question.

“The people here didn’t think we were dragging our feet and were in fact moving in the right direction,” Thompson said.

Baskin-Robbins has had other incidents with Pralines ‘N Cream, which was introduced in 1970 as a “Flavor of the Month” but has since become a permanent part of the menu. Baskin-Robbins has about 545 flavors that, with a few permanent exceptions, rotate on and off the menu.

“These are not the only people to attempt to take this name,” Marley said. After hearing from Baskin-Robbins, however, “they usually quit or they alter the name a bit,” he said.

And in the early 1970s, not long after a Bank of America branch was bombed in Isla Vista, a group of students took a Santa Barbara Baskin-Robbins store “hostage” and demanded the return of Pralines ‘N Cream to the menu.

The Santa Barbara franchisee “nearly had a heart attack,” Marley said. But the demonstrators were eventually satisfied.

“We brought some of the ice cream up there,” Marley said. “It was all very frivolous.”