'Budweiser not your brand', EU court tells Anheuser

US beverages giant Anheuser-Busch InBev has lost its long battle to sell its beer under the 'Budweiser' brand across Europe. A European Court rejected its claim, saying the commercial right to use the term 'Budweiser' as a Europe-wide trademark already belongs to the small, state-owned Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar.

For over a hundred years the two beer makers have been locked in a fight to control the ownership of the Budweiser brand, based on claims of "historical rights". The Czech brewer has been producing a budweiser beer since 1876, and the Czech city of Ceske Budejovice, where Budvar is located, has also been known through history by its German name, Budweis. Budejovicky Budvar said it had registered the name in France, Austria and the former Czechoslovakia back in 1958.

On theother hand Anheuser-Busch says it has the right to the name as it first started brewing Budweiser in 1876, 19 years before Budejovicky Budvar was founded in 1895. Beer has been brewed in the Czech town since 1265.

Anheuser-Busch, which markets Budweiser and Bud Light beers, lost a similar fight six years ago to stop the Czech company selling beer in the UK under the ''Bud'' and 'Budweiser' trademarks. However, it has successfully stopped Budvar registering or using the 'Budweiser' name in Finland, Spain, Denmark, Argentina, Australia and New Zealand.

But now the European Court of First Instance in Luxembourg delivered another rebuff to the American company, saying the commercial right for the name to be used for ''beer of any kind'' was already held in Germany and Austria by the Czech brewery.

They added that Anheuser-Busch could not register the very same word as an EU trademark for goods described in the court application as ''beer, ale, porter, malted alcoholic and non alcoholic beverages''.