Luxembourg, 12/06/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 12 June, the Court of First Instance reached a ruling on a series of joined cases that pitted the Anheuser Busch brewery against its Czech rival Budejovický Budvar (joined cases T 53/04 to T 56/04, T 58/04 and T 59/04; joined cases T 57/04 and T 71/04; and joined cases T 60/04 to T 64/04). The Czech brewery demands for exclusive right of the “Budweiser” and “Bud” brands for products other than beer were dismissed. The Court did not reach a decision on the use of these brands for beer, following Anheuser Busch' withdrawal of its opposition to this point last May.
Between 1996 and 1998, the American company Anheuser-Busch applied to the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) for registration of the word marks 'BUDWEISER' and 'BUD' and a figurative sign containing the term 'BUDWEISER' as Community trade marks, for various products including stationery, articles for cleaning purposes, clothing, pastry and confectionery. Drawing from the Lisbon Agreement for the Protection of Appellations of Origin and their International Registration, the Czech company Budìjovický Budvar brought opposition proceedings against Community trade mark registration in respect of all of the goods sought by Anheuser in the Union. OHIM agreed that this opposition involved beers and all other “class 32” products covered by Nice stipulations (involving the international classification of products and services and brand registration), namely beer and other still and carbonated drinks containing little or no alcohol. On the other hand, OHIM rejected opposition on other products.
The Court's judgement reinforced the decision made by OHIM. Anheurser Busch has therefore had its request for brand registration confirmed with regard to merchandising products. According to the judgement, protection of an appellation of origin cannot be extended to different classes of products unless there is proof that the use of this brand would damage the party owning the appellation of origin. The Czech company was unable to provide sufficient proof of a potential to cause harm in this respect. With regard to the beer, the US brewery withdrew its demand for OHIM registration in May this year due to a change in logo, according to one of its spokespersons. Whatever the motivation behind this decision, the result of this withdrawal is that opposition from the Czech company over use of the brand for beer has been confirmed.
In the context of the use of the brand for merchandising, granted to Anheuser Busch by the Court, Helena Lejtnarova, a member of the team of legal experts employed by Budejovický Budvar, declared: “We haven't had time to analyse the written judgement and arguments but we cannot rule out the possibility of an appeal”. Her company now has two months to do this. (cd)