The word “Oreo” is being scrubbed from any J.P. Licks ice cream shop flavor names after the cookie company demanded a fee for use of its brand.
Oreos can still be used in the store’s recipes, but such flavor names as “Oreo Cookie Dough” have to go. The store is holding a contest through today to rename the affected flavors.
“We were contacted by Oreo’s parent company. It comes down to, for us to use the word ‘Oreo,’ we need to have a licensing agreement,” J.P. Licks owner Vince Petryk told the Gazette last week. “It would wind up being prohibitively expensive.”
All the recipes will remain the same. “It’s just the name that’s gotta go,” Petryk said. The cookie is used in over a dozen ice cream flavors and “our best-selling cake is based on it.”
“It’s a mighty cookie,” he said.
In a move announced in J.P. Licks’ monthly email Jan. 20, Mondelez International, Oreo’s parent company, recently warned the store about possible trademark infringement. Mondelez gave J.P. Licks until Jan. 31 to either come to terms on a licensing agreement or stop using the word “Oreo” commercially.
Gazette calls to Mondelez were not returned.
J.P. Licks is headquartered at 659 Centre St. in central JP, but operates 10 other locations in Greater Boston.
The winning suggestion in the renaming contest will receive “bragging rights, social media recognition, a quart of their favorite ice cream or yogurt, and a tour of our JP production facility with Vince Petryk,” the email said.
Petryk said that as of Jan. 23, he had received over 2,100 suggestions. To submit a suggestion by the Jan. 31 deadline, email [email protected].
J.P. Licks owner Vince Petryk poses with a box of Oreos, whose brand will be stricken from flavor names. (Gazette Photo by Rebeca Oliveira)