18/12/2008 (Agence Europe) - The Court of First Instance is supporting the Czech brewery Budçjovicky Budvar in its opposition to the registration of the “Bud” brand by its US competitor Anheuser-Busch. In a ruling made on 16 December, the Court immediately pointed out that the brewery had in fact demonstrated the use of the word “Bud” in European affairs to describe its beer. The Court also pointed out that French and Austrian legislation already granted the brewery protection for this brand, a fact that had to be taken into account in the examination of the case. For not having paid attention to these aspects of the case, the Court quashed the decision made by the Office of Harmonisation for the Internal Market (OHIM), which decided to reject in 2005, the brewery's appeal against Anheuser-Busch' use of the contentious brand (Joint Affairs T-225/o6 and others. (C.D./transl.rh)