[lbo-talk] Fun with Property and Language

Kevin Robert Dean qualiall at adelphia.net
Thu Dec 23 17:03:08 PST 2004


http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/041222121825.lqnwxjmd Storm in a beer glass: Anheuser-Busch sees cheer in Budweiser-Bud rowDocument Actions 22/12/2004

American brewing giant Anheuser-Busch said Wednesday that a WTO ruling on geographically-linked product names amounted to a victory for it in a trademark row with Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar. The dispute turned on the use of the names Budweiser and Bud for beer brands. US Trade Representative Robert Zoellick had announced in the United States late on Tuesday that the WTO panel had agreed that existing European Union rules on "geographical indications" protecting the names of regional products such as parmesan cheese or champagne wine were discriminatory against non-EU products. But a spokesman for EU Trade Commissioner Peter Mandelson insisted there was no threat from the ruling to the European system of protection for geographical indications. Anheuser-Busch nonetheless saw the WTO finding as a significant boost in a long-running battle with Budvar over the rights to the names Budweiser and Bud. A source at the company said the ruling did not allow geographical indications to be used in translation. With the Czechs' EU accession in May, Budvar, together with Ceske Budejovice's other brewer Budejovicky Mestansky Pivovar, was awarded the EU-wide geographical protection indicators 'Budejovicky pivo' and 'Ceskobudejovicky pivo', meaning "Ceske Budejovice beer" in Czech. Full http://www.eubusiness.com/afp/041222121825.lqnwxjmd



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