Czech brewer wins another victory
to protect the Budweiser name after the European Court of Justice
ruled that the company should receive brand protection in Finland.
The EU Advocate General dealing with the case said that the company's historical links to the name meant that it had more of a hold over the brand than brewing giant Anheuser-Busch, which for years has been fighting for sole distribution rights in a number of major markets.
Currently the two companies are engaged in 40 lawsuits around the world, each trying to protect the Bud or Budweiser name as their own.
Only last month South Korean courts upheld a previous decision that Budvar could use its famous trade mark in the country, alongside its other name Budweiser Budvar N.C., the Czech brewer confirmed.
"The court has finally recognised Anheuser-Busch's unfair lawsuit." a Budejovicky Budvar press statement said on the subject.
In January this year the courts in Seoul decreed that the state-owned Czech beer maker was not infringing the Budweiser trademark of its US rival and that the Budejovicky Budvar trade name could be registered in South Korea. Anheuser-Busch (A-B) appealed against this decision, but the courts have this week thrown out that appeal.
Anheuser-Busch has always argued that the use of the Budvar trademark and company name was a conflict with its own trademark. BeverageDaily.com reported earlier this year that while the two companies have been at loggerheads over the trademark issue in South Korea since the late 1990s, the 'David and Goliath' tussle between the two firms has been going for decades worldwide.
Budvar claims the sole rights to the Budweiser name because only it makes its beer in Budweis (the German name for Ceske Budejovice) after which the brew is named. A-B refutes the claim, saying it was the first to register the trademark worldwide and that the Czechs are simply trying to benefit from its years of building up the brand.
While many countries have backed the Czech brewer against its US rival, many more have supported A-B's right to the name, including most of North and South America and virtually all of Asia. Some (such as the UK) allow both brands to exist side-by-side using the Budweiser and Budweiser Budvar names, while others oblige A-B to call its beer American Bud to distinguish it from the Czech brew. In yet others (such as the US), Budvar has to use the name Czechvar.
