Trademarks
Registered trademarks
The name of the brewery and the beer relates to the place of its origin – the town of České Budějovice. Since the 14th century the official name of this city was Budweis. Only in 1918 was the name changed into the Czech name of České Budějovice. However, the indication Budweis is today the official translation of the name of the city into many foreign languages. The tradition of the production of beer in České Budějovice began in 1265 when the Czech King, Přemysl Otakar II. chartered the brewing rights for the town. Over the following centuries, České Budějovice produced high quality beer which, due to it being distinguished from similar products from other areas, was indicated as “Budweiser Bier” (i.e. beer from České Budějovice). In 1895 the Czech Share Brewery – the legal predecessor of the current brewery Budweiser Budvar officially adopted the indication of the product by the location of its origin and continued in the long term tradition of the production of beer in České Budějovice. From the very beginning of its production activities, the brewery has used in its products the word “Budweiser” and during its trading activity started to register this name as a registered trademark.
Protection of indication according to the location of origin
Protection of the indication of origin and protection of geographical indication relate by their nature to extraordinary products and food products produced in a precisely specified region or in a certain location from which they derive their names. The quality and properties of such products are characterized by features of the natural environment, composition of raw materials and the skills of local people. Such an indication is particularly appreciated by the customer who can be certain that he/she has purchased an original product always produced in the same location and of the same quality.
According to the Accession Agreement between the Czech Republic and the EU, the indications “Budweiser Beer” and “České Budějovice Beer” are officially protected in the territory of the Europan Union through the “Protected geographical indication” Institute.
Budweiser Beer also has a registered geographical indication or indication of origin for the terms, Budweiser Beer, České Budějovice Beer, Bud and others in more than 40 countries thoroughout the world that have instroduced registration principles for these indications, e.g. on the basis of the multi-lateral Lisboa Agreement, there are bilateral agreements which protect these indications through national legal regulations.
Today, the Budějovice Budvar brewery owns a large amount of intellectutal property in the form of registered trademarks, protected indications of origin, geographical indications and business names. The most well-known are Budweiser Budvar, Budweiser, Budvar, Bud and Budějovický Budvar. This fund is exclusively related to the location of origin. The brewery has atotal of 380 registered trademarks in more than 100 countries thoroughout the world.
Disputes concerning registered trademarks
The history of disputes regarding the registered trademark of Budweiser Budvar dates back to the beginning of the last century. For decades, the representatives of one of the large american breweries tried to purchase from Budweiser Budvar the rights to its trademarks, first of all only for the territory of the USA. They managed to do this before the start of World War II. with the aim of attaining registered trademarks for Budweiser Budvar in other countries and the representatives of American brewery still continue with their activities today.
Budweiser Budvar has to defend its historical rights to the registered trademarks against legal attacks from the Anheuser-Burch company in more than 40 legal disputes and a further more than 70 administrative proceedings currently before patent offices throughout the world. The majority of legal decisions confirm the rights of Budweiser Budvar to its registered trademarks. Recently, Budweiser Budvar achieved important victories in the legal trademark disputes, for example, in Great Britain, Australia, Japan, South Korea, Greece, Portugal, Denmark, Sweden, Finland and New Zealand.
