Budweiser trademark battle!

Earlier this month, it was reported that Anheuser-Busch InBev SA, acquired a small brewery in Ceske Budejovice (profoundly called Budweis in German) called Samson. Though Samson held certain geographic-indicator and trademark rights in the term Budweiser, occasionally it opposed Anheuser-Busch’s attempts to register and/or use, in European Jurisdictions, the Budweiser and Bud trademarks.

Anheuser-Busch has swallowed, after a long running trademark battle, up one of its rivals and now permits Anheuser-Busch to have a flag in the home town of Budvar. It does not however, bring any change in the dispute raged between Anheuser-Busch and Budvar over the years.

Claims from Budvar suggest the Budweiser trademark dates back to the late 1800s, although it has been brewed in Budweis from back in the 13^th Century. In 1876, Anheuser-Busch’s Budweiser was introduced into the United States. Problems then began in the 1900s whereby companies began exporting their goods.

In multiple countries, litigation over the ensuring century had resulted in a patchwork of rights: in the USA, Budvar’s beer is marketed as Czechvar; in Europe, Anheuser-Busch’s product is known as Bud; both parties however, after a court ruling in 2012, are allowed to use Budweiser in the UK.

Though this circumstance is exclusive in its historical and geographical roots, it provides a deterrent of the international authorization of trademarks of products which may be exported, even if they are, at this time, domestic.

Theresa Wright