Budweiser Budvar say they scored a historical victory in Italy
Given the long saga of Silvio Berlusconi’s legal wrangles, a victory in an Italian court, even if it is the Supreme Court, may amount to actually very little. Still, Czech Budweiser Budvar delighted in the sweet taste of victory, when on 8 October 2013 the Italian Supreme Court ruled in their favour, thus banning AB-InBev from using the Budweiser trademark in Italy.
According to Budweiser Budvar’s interpretation of the ruling, it means that AB-InBev must stop selling their Budweiser beer in Italy, while Budweiser Budvar can return to Italy.
Over a decade ago, in 2001, AB-InBev filed a lawsuit against the Italian importers of Budweiser Budvar demanding they stop using the words “Bud” and “Budweiser” when selling beer. In 2002, AB-InBev filed another lawsuit with the goal of removing Budweiser Budvar’s trademarks with the “Budweiser” element from the Italian register. Owing to a preliminary injunction, Budweiser Budvar had to subsequently start selling its beer with the “Czechvar” label and later on with the “Budějovický Budvar” label in Italy, which resulted in an abrupt decrease of sales of Budvar’s beer by half in 2002, whereas in 2001 Italy was Budweiser Budvar’s fifth most important export market.
Now, the Italian Supreme Court has ruled in both legal disputes in favour of Budweiser Budvar and their Italian importers. The verdicts are legally effective and final, say Budweiser Budvar.
A spokesperson for AB-InBev expressed the company’s disappointment with the Supreme Court’s decision and said they would continue with their efforts to secure their Budweiser trademark rights in Italy. To do so they are considering their legal options.
In a statement, AB-InBev said: “While the decision does not include an order prohibiting our use of Budweiser in Italy, we will transition to the Bud brand in Italy to make sure that there is no disruption in the supply of our world famous beer to our loyal consumers until we are able to secure our Budweiser rights.”
In Italy, AB-InBev sells Budweiser, alongside other brands like Beck’s, Stella Artois, Leffe and Hoegaarden. However, whatever their total sales in Italy are, they are “not material” (read “comparatively insignificant”) in the context of the group, AB-InBev pointed out.
True, sales of AB-InBev’s Budweiser in Italy climbed as high as 120,000 hl in 2008, but have since fallen back to an estimated 75,000 hl. Volumes are declining by between 2 percent and 5 percent per year. Most imported beers in Italy are suffering because of the sorry state of Italy’s economy which has hit the on-premise particularly hard. Besides, Budweiser is imported, Heavens know where from, which means it does not enjoy any real distribution muscle.
As in the case of Mr Berlusconi, the Supreme Court’s ruling may not yet be the last we have heard from the battle of the Budweisers in Italy.
