--- description: A New Cold War title: Retailing: A New Cold War image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [U.S.](/section/us/) # Retailing: A New Cold War by [TIME](/author/time/) Apr 8, 1985 5:00 AM CUT by [TIME](/author/time/) Apr 8, 1985 5:00 AM CUT Trivia question for ice cream lovers: What is the difference between Pralines ‘N Cream and Pralines & Cream? Answer: Pralines ‘N Cream is a registered trademark of Baskin-Robbins, the flourishing Glendale, Calif., company (1984 sales: $152 million) that has franchised 3,143 ice cream shops worldwide. Pralines & Cream is a flavor sold by Haagen-Dazs, the successful (1984 sales: $100 million) ice cream subsidiary of Pillsbury. The similarity of the two brand names has spurred Baskin-Robbins to sue Haagen Dazs for trademark infringement. A Dallas federal court is considering the case, not without some amusement. Says a court clerk: “It’s embarrassing to see these grown men carrying on about ice cream.” But the two sides are serious. Baskin-Robbins says that it sold 3 million gallons of Pralines ‘N Cream in the U.S. last year, making it the company’s No. 1 flavor. Haagen Dazs says it will “vigorously defend the lawsuit” and “aggressively pursue cancellation” of the trademark. Haagen Dazs contends that pralines and cream is a generic name that should be available to all companies, just like chocolate chip and butter pecan. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6710327/retailing-a-new-cold-war/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/archive/6710327/retailing-a-new-cold-war/"},"headline":"Retailing: A New Cold War","datePublished":"1985-04-08T05:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-27T20:00:21.352Z","description":"A New Cold War","url":"https://time.com/archive/6710327/retailing-a-new-cold-war/","keywords":[],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"TIME","url":"https://time.com/author/time/"}],"articleSection":"U.S.","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/us/","name":"U.S."}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/archive/6710327/retailing-a-new-cold-war/","name":"Retailing: A New Cold War"}}]}] ```