The Budweiser Trademark Dispute: Debunking the Myths

For the past decade or so, at any given time, the American brewer Anheuser-Bush and the Czech state-owned brewery Budejovicky Budvar have been involved in dozens of lawsuits in courts all around the world, from Australia and the Americas, to Europe and Asia, even Africa. The subject of their dispute is the trademark regarding Budweiser, the most popular brand name of beer in the world and a brand name that both breweries claim as their own.

Reportage on the dispute in the mainstream media has been poor, filled with recycled facts (as opposed to checked facts) and never presented in a context that provides the reader the information necessary to understand what the issues are and what's at stake. The blogoshere has been even worse, much worse. Anheuser-Busch is almost always portrayed as an evil, yet bumbling conglomerate giant feasting and profiting off the labors of a small, innocent, entrepreneurial brewery in a small town, in a far away place.

It's time for a little truth.

Myth #1. Anheuser-Busch stole the recipe for its Budweiser from Budejovicky Budvar.

Anybody who has actually seen a draught pint of the A-B product and a half-liter of the BB product would laugh at this assertion. They don't look anything alike, and they don't taste anything alike. Never mind that A-B's Budweiser is a rice based brew, and there is absolutely no rice whatsoever in BB's product. It is true that when A-B was planning its Budweiser launch in the 1870s, they did model their beer on the Bohemian style of beer. As did dozens and dozens of breweries around the world. No specific recipe, however, was stolen, merely a style of beer, the pilsner style, was mimicked. A style, by the way, that was, at the time, shared by hundreds of breweries in the Czech lands.

Myth #2. Budejovicky Budvar is older than Anheuser-Busch.

Not even Budejovicky Budvar makes this claim; BB dates to 1895. A-B has been selling its Budweiser brand since 1876, nineteen years before BB even opened it doors. The confusion on this issue is a result of name-appellation. Because beer has been brewed in the town of Ceske Budejovice, where BB is brewed, since the 14^th century, some have mistakenly argued that BB and the beer it brews dates back to the 14^th Century. Nothing could be further from the truth. Unlike the wine or spirits industries which recognize name-appellation (examples: champagne and bourbon), the brewing industry does not. And more to the point, Budejovicky Budvar has itself argued in court that name-appellation is not relevant in the brewing industry. And that is because Budejovicky Budvar is not the only brewer in the city of Ceske Budejovice that lays claim to the trademark Budweiser. There is another brewery, Budejovicky Mestansky, which actually has a better claim to the name Budweiser if name-appellation was the deciding factor. In its lawsuit with Budejovicky Mestansky, Budejovicky Budvar argued persuasively against name-appellation and based its argument on the fact that its business concern was established before the present business incarnation of Budejovicky Mestansky was formed.

Myth #3. Budejovicky Budvar has been winning all the trademark lawsuits.

This is simply not the case. First of all, most of the lawsuits are not about the name "Budweiser," but about the name Budejovicky Budvar. As any beer drinker knows, most people don't ask for a "Budweiser." They ask for a "Bud." Anheuser-Busch has spent millions of advertising dollars promoting "Bud," and, logically, A-B has been very aggressively protecting the name "Bud." Many, but nowhere near all, courts around the world have ruled that Budejovicky Budvar does not confuse the consumer and is not an infringement on the name "Budweiser." So, yes, these are legal victories for BB, but they don't concern the name Budweiser, only the name Budejovicky Budvar. When the name "Budweiser" is at issue, A-B categorically wins the lawsuits, except in countries where the BB product clearly preceded the A-B product in regards to establishing the brand name.

Myth #4. Anheuser-Busch and Budejovicky Budvar are in competition.

This is absolutely not true. Even in the Czech Republic, BB is at the high end of the spectrum, at least in regards to price. It's the most expensive domestic beer in the Czech Republic. And according to Czechs, it's not the best. It's certainly not the best-selling. In the Czech Republic, where BB is allowed to market its beer as "Budweiser," tourists make up a large cross-section of its drinkers. But more to the point, Anheuser-Busch all but owns Budejovicky Budvar. BB, today, is a largely mismanaged dinosaur of the Communist era; it is wholly-owned and operated by the government of the Czech Republic. It should have been privatized years ago, but there is only one suitor, and that is A-B. SABMiller purchased the Czech brewery in Plzen, Pilsner Urquell. InBev purchased Staropramen, located in Prague. A-B needs a Czech beer in its lineup, and BB is a natural fit. Which is why A-B agreed to be the exclusive distributor of BB in the USA. It is sold under the brand name Czechvar. Most Czech pundits have opined that the sale of Budejovicky Budvar to Anheuser-Busch is imminent. Which in the Czech Republic could mean a year or two, but it is very clear that A-B will soon be purchasing BB. So, A-B has no reason to harm the Czech brand name. In fact, A-B wants the Czech brewery to succeed.

Myth #5. Budweiser is named for a town in the Czech Republic.

This one is a yes and no. Budejovicky Budvar is brewed in the city of Ceske Budejovice, not the city of Budweiser or even Budweis. Budweis is a German word; a German translation of the Czech city of Ceske Budejovice. Budweiser, in German, loosely means "from Budweis." There is no city or town or village in the Czech Republic called Budweis, and there hasn't been since 1918 when the Republic of Czechoslovakia was established and all German language influenced place-names were wiped off the map and replaced by Czech language names. That said, back in the 1870s, the Czech lands were under the Hapsburg Dynasty of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and German was the official language, and on official maps, the city today known as Ceske Budejovice was called Budweis. And it is true that the people at Anheuser-Busch , when choosing the name Budweiser for their new Bohemian style brew did name it after the city they saw on German language maps called Budweis. But what's most important to note is the fact that Budejovicky Budvar was never marketed abroad under the mark "Budweiser" until the 1960s, long after Anheuser-Busch had made the name Budweiser internationally known.