European Court of First Instance

Food & Drink Weekly, June 18, 2007

In the long running trademark dispute between Anheuser-Busch and Czech Republic-based brewer Budejovicky Budvar, the European Court of First Instance (CFI) ruled June 12 that the U.S.-based brewer had the legal right to use the "Budweiser" and "Bud" name in the marketing of 12 categories of products including stationary, clothing, pastry, beermats, neon signs, and glassware.

The CFI ruled that Budejovicky Budvar, which previously won the right to use the name Budweiser for its beer product and advertises itself as Budweiser Budvar, did not prove that Anheuser-Busch's use of the name in other products would impact its beer business. Anheuser-Busch International, which has been in a running legal battle for more than two decades with Budweiser Budvar, applied in 1996 to register the name "Budweiser" and "Bud" as European Community trademarks at the EU Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM), which was set up to award trademarks that could be used in all 27 EU member states. Budweiser Budvar demanded that the request be rejected and subsequently challenged the OHIM approval in the EU's second-highest court.