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One feud, two visions
#1 According to...
Since 1911 the gigantic
American producer Anheuser-Busch (AB) has
The latest legal dispute started on June 26 of this year [1997], when AB filed suit at the Municipal Court in Helsinki, attempting to ban the sale of Budweiser Budvar in Finland. Budvar applied for registration of the trademark "Budweiser Budvar," the name it has used in Finland since last year. The "Finnish League of Beer Associations" supported the position of Budweiser Budvar in the court, which refused the American position for a preliminary injunction. However, the battle over the distribution of "Budweiser Budvar" in Finland is just beginning. War in Norway
Threats in Ireland
Infringement in Germany
Long before Columbus
Illusions and Reality
AB Does Not Give Up
Roman Ruzicka Ekonom, "Budweiser Budvar Faces Accusations by Anheuser-Busch", 16.4.1997 |
#2 According to...
"In 1876, Adolphus collaborated with his close friend, Carl Conrad, to create a new beer brand -Budweiser- which now outsells all other brands in the world." "In 1860, Eberhard Anheuser (1805-1880), a successful St. Louis businessman, first financed a loan for a struggling local brewery and later bought up the interests of minority creditors. Four years later, his son-in-law-Adolphus Busch-joined the company as a salesman. Adolphus eventually became a partner and then president of the company. As the driving force that took a struggling local brewery and transformed it into an industry giant, Adolphus is considered the founder of the company. (...) In 1876, Adolphus collaborated with his close friend, Carl Conrad, to create a new beer brand -Budweiser- which now outsells all other brands in the world. Twenty years later, Adolphus developed another beer brand-Michelob-that soon became the pre-eminent superpremium U.S. beer, a position it retains to this day. (...) Trademarks... The A & Eagle design is the widely recognized symbol of Anheuser-Busch Companies and Anheuser-Busch, Inc. First used on the company's beer products in 1872, the trademark was registered with the U.S. Patent Office in 1877. According to the company's statement at that time, the essential elements of the design were "...the capital A and the figure of an eagle standing on the American shield." The original eagle had its wings folded back into the "A." Around the turn of the century, the eagle's wings spread outside the "A" in an uplifted, flying motion. In 1939, the Union shield was replaced with a horizontal striped shield. No record remains of the symbol's original designer or its exact meaning. The "A" stood for Eberhard Anheuser, but a question remains about the eagle. Some have said that it represented the unlimited vision of Adolphus Busch; others, that it was included as a mark of respect for America, the adopted country of the brewery's founders. Whatever the original meaning, the A & Eagle has come to symbolize the company's century-old heritage of pride and quality. Some of the company's current major trademarks include Anheuser-Busch, Anheuser, the A & Eagle design, Bud, Budweiser, Budweiser Label Design, Budweiser Bow Tie design, Bud Light, Bud Ice, King of Beers, Michelob, Michelob Light, Michelob Classic Dark, Michelob Dry, Busch, Busch Light, Natural Light, King Cobra, O'Doul's, Busch Gardens, Adventure Island, Kingsmill, SeaWorld, Shamu and Know When To Say When." Anheuser-Busch Co., St Louis, Miss. USA (From Anheuser-busch.com)
Battle of the 'Buds' reaches Hong-Kong. News From Realbeer.co.nz
Anheuser-Busch takes Budvar to court in trademark battle JULY 12, 1999 - In the latest round of the ongoing battle between Budweiser and Budvar, American-based Anheuser Busch has taken Czech-owned Budejovicky Budvar to court in Hong Kong. The Hong Kong Sunday Morning Post reported that A-B said in court papers that Budejovicky Budvar beer had infringed on the Budweiser trademark since Budejovicky is the Czech word for Budweiser. The U.S. brewer is seeking a court order to have the Czech company's products taken off the shelves in Hong Kong, the report said. Anheuser-Busch has launched similar lawsuits in Europe and the United States. The Czechs say they had claims to the name long before the Americans began brewing beer. "Budweiser," named after a Czech village called Ceske Budejovice, was made as far back as the Middle Ages, they said. The term Budweiser describes beer from that region, the same way Burgundy and Champagne describe wine from those wine-making regions of France, they said. The German immigrants who founded Anheuser-Busch in 1876 used the Budweiser name for their beer because it was well-known in their homeland. In Czechoslovakia, the state-owned Budvar brewery was founded in 1895. Last month, federal regulators in the United States began investigating whether the Czech brewer's use of the "Budweiser Budvar" label violates U.S. trademark law. |
+ 1/3 Bud War: histoire d'une querelle centenaire
+ 2/3 1992: tentative d'OPA d'Anheuser-Bush sur Budvar, reportage d'avril 1992 (photos)
+ 3/3 Face à face: l'histoire vue par Budvar, et le discours officiel de Anheuser-Busch (anglais).
+ Pour vous tenir au courant des derniers procès: essayer cette recherche sur le site Realbeer.com, très efficace (query=trademark+battle).
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