Amerikaanse bierbrouwer verliest zaak over naam 'Budweiser' (en)
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS - Anheuser-Busch, the American brewing giant bought last year by Belgian brewer Inbev, has lost its appeal with the European Court of First Instance to trademark the name ‘Budweiser' across the European Union.
The firm first attempted to register the lager brand in the EU in 1996, a move opposed by Czech brewing firm Budejovicky Budvar, whose own Budweiser Budvar had been registered in Austria, France and the former Czechoslovakia in 1958.
The European trade mark office, OHIM, backed the Czech firm. Anheuser-Busch unsuccessfully appealed the OHIM decision in 2007, which found that the trade mark applied for was identical to Budvar's brand, protected in particular in Germany and Austria.
Anheuser-Busch then brought the case before the Court of First Instance.
The court has now upheld the OHIM ruling, finding that the Czech beer had already been trademarked in a number of European countries.
The court noted that Budvar had submitted advertisements and invoices bearing the earlier trade mark addressed to customers in Germany and Austria, with the aim of marketing the beer five years before the publication of Anheuser-Busch's application for an EU trade mark.
"The Court of First Instance states that those advertisements and invoices constitute proof of genuine use by the Czech brewery of the earlier trade mark," the ruling reads.
Anheuser-Busch may continue to use the Budweiser brand in those countries where it has trademark agreements, but it has been denied an EU-wide registration.
The legal tussle has its origins in the word Budweiser, which is simply the German adjective for something from the Bohemian town of Budweis, since 1919 termed Èeské Budìjovice.
The Anheuser-Busch product is marketed under the brand ‘Bud' in France, for example, and ‘Anheuser-Busch B' in Germany. In the UK meanwhile, both beers take the name ‘Budweiser', while in the US, Budweiser Budvar is sold as ‘Czechvar'.
Anheuser-Busch has offered to buy out the Czech firm to resolve the dispute, but has been repeatedly rebuffed.
Court of Justice