UK chief of Czech brewer Budvar calls Anheuser-Busch InBev “weaselly.” Oh no, he didn’t!
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The Publican, a trade publication for bars and pubs in the United Kingdom, picks up a juicy nugget in the multi-decade and multi-country trademark dispute between Anheuser-Busch and Czech brewer Budvar over the name “Budweiser.”
The story reports that Budvar UK chief Tony Jennings has labeled Anheuser-Busch InBev “weaselly” in relation to the tussle over naming rights in Europe. The story says the long-running saga returned to a European court this week after Anheuser-Busch InBev pointed to a European directive claiming the Czech brewer’s trademark on the name was invalid.
That’s where it gets interesting. According to the story, Jennings said the following:
“As far as AB InBev is concerned it shows that this new lot are just as weasley in the way they pick over any new law as their predecessors [Anheuser Busch] did.
“If they really are hell bent on cutting costs as they claim I am surprised they are happy to continue to throw money after what anybody else can see is a lost cause.”
Ouch! Rather spicy language. No dry lawywer-speak there. Although we doubt Anheuser-Busch InBev would agree that trying to get trademark priviledges for Budweiser across Europe is a “lost cause.” that will be for a host of judges and lawyers to decide.
Anheuser-Busch InBev spokeswoman Marianne Amssoms said the company believes that the European Court of Justice, where parts of the case are now being litigated, will help it knock down Budvar’s trademark registration for the name “Budweiser.”
“A favorable ruling will assist Anheuser-Busch’s efforts to prevent confusion among U.K. consumers who expect to receive the familiar and distinct taste of our world famous beer when ordering a Budweiser,” Amssoms said.
She added that Anheuser-Busch applied for a Budweiser trademark registration in the U.K. in 1979, a decade before Budvar filed its application.
(3 votes, average: 5 out of 5)
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Jeremiah McWilliams is a native Virginian who came to the Post-Dispatch in early 2007 to cover beer and other consumer products. He previously covered manufacturing for the Virginian-Pilot newspaper in Norfolk, Va. He is a graduate of Washington and Lee University. 
One thing that’s interesting about this is that the beer is in the Anheuser-Busch portfolio as “Czechvar.” I wonder how that works?
Weasely is more like a small Czech brewer (founded 19 years after Budweiser was first brewed by A-B) trying to capitalize on a brand name they didn’t create…or use until A-B’s Bud was the best selling beer in the 1950s
>U.K. consumers who expect to receive the familiar and distinct taste of our world famous beer”
Now THAT’S funny. The only consumers in the UK who expect to get an American Budweiser are tourists from America.
I’m with R.E. Lee on this one — Budvar needs to back off and come up with their own brand name. Sounds like they’re the weasel here.
Budvar (as it’s called in the Czech Republic) is brewed in the town of Ceske Budejovice (about like that… I’m sure slight mispelling will be understood). It is in the Eastern part of Czech Republic, and also has a german name: Budweis. In fact, AB’s beer was named after this city. So it’s really like trying to copyright the name “bavarian beer”. It might sound exotic to us, but it’s been the name used for various beers for centuries, as I understand it.
I worked briefly for Anheuser-Busch, had a family member who was a career employee, lived briefly in Czech Republic, and am Czech, so I probably have more background than usual on the debate. Czech Budweiser is actually known as Budejovicky Budvar in Czech Republic (they aren’t crazy about Germans). To my thinking, the whole thing is quite a mouthful, but Budvar seems like a perfectly marketable name. If AB applied for the name first in the UK, Czech beer should enjoy no special privilege over US beer, and Budweiser is the only name that AB’s beer used, so they have no acceptable alternate. A case could certainly be made for central European countries and Germany.
For Tim, I believe that AB might distribute Budvar in the US, as they are a very prominent distributor. Budvar is Czechvar in the states. I do think the Czech brewery has profited off the confusion. Their label and coloring scheme in the UK is so similar I did a double take. Not sure what they have done historically, but they are certainly making no efforts to differentiate. The Czechs are obstinate, so it may be more of a passive-aggressive stance based on historical things rather than pure marketing.
I’m gonna side with Tony Jennings on this one, since the whole InBev thing also seemed “weaselly.”
And I’m gonna side with b, over the ridiculous statement about Europeans clamoring for our watered-down version of their native brews.
And I’m gonna keep drinking Schlafly. A real St. Louis beer!
I hope ABInBev loses.
I worked at AB for quite a few years and experienced the same issues as Francine, albeit at a lower level. My kids are grown so I didn’t have to be home with them so forget the sexist comments on that front. I knew and worked with women we assumed got ahead on their backs. So be it. That’s not for me. I’ve seen it other places too. I don’t know Francine, but her story rings too true. As a woman you have to play the game to some extent. You try to right the wrongs from the inside, not go legal because there are too many negative consequences. As to why she left A-B, I suspect, as no one has said yet, that she was forced out as were most people at her level. It probably was not as voluntary as some have insinuated. If I’d had the money I might have gone her route on the age discrimination in the layoffs. The data supported me, but the enhanced severance agreement bought me. Just food for thought folks. She’s at a higher level than most, but it was rampant at the company.
Budvar Budweiser is far superior beer and has been brewed for hundreds of years. Stop the silly legal games. I like both beers. I had the real budweiser the Czech kind when my wife and i were in Russia adopting a baby. Little big man AB in bev needs to stop being a sissy corporate bully and relax. If your product is good it will sell. I hope the Czech company uses whatever label it wants and thumbs its nose and the corporate hack lawyers. As if anyone in europe especially the Czech republic will ever care what silly legal decision is made. Try to enforce it Haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. Not gonna happen.