WTO ruling will protect A-B in trademark cases

Modern Brewery Age,  March 21, 2005  

Tags: World Trade Organization

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A World Trade Organization panel released a ruling Tuesday that the EU has discriminated against U.S. and Australian producers in not granting them rights to use geographical indications for their agricultural products and foodstuffs.

The EU has protected geographical names for certain European products, but the U.S. had complained that the EU didn't allow U.S. farmers to protect Idaho potatoes or Florida oranges under its rules..

The WTO panel said the EU must allow exporters to register products referring to geographical origin. But it also ruled that the protection offered by such registration didn't apply to linguistic translations.

So Budvar, which registered beers under the name of its hometown, Budejovicky, will be weakened it its attempt to undermine A-B's use of the Germanized "Budweiser" trademark in EU countries.

Budvar has said that Budweiser and Bud are German translations of Budejovicky. The Czech company has used this argument as the basis of its trademark cases in several instances. But the new ruling will stop Budvar from making claims against

The office of the U.S. Trade Representative pointed to A-B in its press release, noting "Companies like Anheuser-Busch, which owns valid trademarks for Budweiser and Bud in Europe, can stop confusing uses of translations or linguistic variations of geographical indications,"

However, Budvar is not expected to give up its trademark battles in Europe and elsewhere. There are currently A-B/Budvar cases underway in 40 countries.

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