Bud Wars

What’s the difference between an American Budweiser and a Czech Budweiser? Quite a lot – but this has not prevented one of the most astonishing series of legal battles over the registration of “Budweiser” as a trademark of each company.

Apparently the first legal ‘battle’ was as long ago as 1911; in the UK the ‘war’ is more recent – being only about 30 years old. American Budweiser first actively entered the UK market in 1973 with the Czech company close on its heels in 1974.

In November 1976 the Czech company applied to register “Bud” as a trademark; naturally the American firm opposed. In 1979 the Americans upped the ante – they applied to register “Budweiser” and so prevent the Czechs from using it. The Czech response was very much tit-for-tat. The result? An expensive draw; it was decided that neither side was falsely using the name. Both were allowed to register “Budweiser” as a trademark in the UK and this was finally done in 2000. However, the war has been renewed and American Budweiser recently reapplied to prevent the Czech firm from using the name “Budweiser”. The case hinged on highly technical points of European Law and was referred to the European Court of Justice who recently found in favour of the Czech firm and the ruling should (finally) put an end to the war between rival “buds”. The extra time result: a “pyrrhic draw”.

The moral of the story? Perhaps the parties could have been better advised on the difference between a matter which is winnable and one which is merely arguable.

Michael Harman
michael.harman@birkettlong.co.uk