Tony and the chocolate factory

Heath Bar-flavored ice cream has been a staple at Chaps Ice Cream for 23 years, according to owner Tony LaBua. The flavor —one of the shop’s most popular—recently drew the ire of The Hershey Company, which took issue with Chaps for its direct use of the Heath Bar trademark.

Tony LaBua needs a new name for the Heath Bar-flavored ice cream he has offered at Chaps for more than two decades, after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from The Hershey Company.

On July 8, Taft Stettinius & Hollister LLP, a firm representing Hershey’s intellectual property rights, issued LaBua a cease-and-desist letter, which ordered LaBua to rename the toffee-flavored ice cream. The letter included a photograph of the Chaps website and its flavor list, including the trademark-violating “Heath Bar” tag.

To comply with the letter, LaBua must remove “Heath Bar” from the flavor’s name. Leaving the name, according to Hershey, “creates an implication that Hershey has licensed or endorsed” Chaps Ice Cream. If LaBua chooses to include that the product is made with the candy, he must use a registered trademark symbol following the brand name.

Amy L. Wright, a partner with Taft Stettinius & Hollister, declined to comment for this story. Calls to representatives of The Hershey Company were not returned by press time. The company has engaged in trademark disputes before—namely, a few with The Hershey Creamery Company, which operates Hershey’s Ice Cream stores.

Asked what possible name the formerly titled “Heath Bar” ice cream will be given, LaBua said he will probably rename the flavor “English toffee ice cream.”

“If Hershey wants me to call it ‘English toffee,’ I’m happy not to call it a Hershey product,” said LaBua. He added that the flavor’s name will be changed during upcoming website maintenance.

Hershey’s letter to LaBua also included a request to sign his compliance and return the letter by July 22. However, LaBua received the letter on the deadline date and was thus unable to return the signed letter on time. LaBua told C-VILLE that he had been on vacation and therefore unaware of the letter’s contents. Upon reading the letter, LaBua said, he was too busy chuckling about its content to examine the return date.

As of August 10, Chaps Ice Cream had not yet complied with the cease-and-desist letter from Hershey. However, while LaBua stated that he did not think the order was “that big of a deal,” he said he would be a “Mr. Goodbar kind of guy” and comply with Hershey’s orders.