WTO ruling - Anheuser-Busch calls it a victory

For some in St. Louis Christmas came early last year. Anheuser-Busch Co. announced shortly before Christmas that it had won ‘an important victory’ in the World Trade Organization (WTO) in its battle to protect the Budweiser brand name against use by a Czech brewer. In a statement Anheuser-Busch President Stephen Burrows said: ‘This decision by the WTO halts Budejovicky Budvar‘s efforts to rely on this registration of "Budejovicke pivo" to justify its use of the Budweiser name.’ By all accounts the WTO ruling implies that the Czech brewer, Budejovicky Budvar, cannot justify its use of the Budweiser name on the grounds that it was the translation of the place name it had registered for exclusive use under the European Union ‘geographic indications’ regime.’.

Denisa Mylbachrova, spokeswoman for Budweiser Budvar, commented on the ruling: ‘Currently we are allowed to use the protected geographical indication Ceskobudejovické pivo (Beer from Ceské Budejovice) and Budejovické pivo (Beer from Budweis) within the EU and the situation should not affect our registered trademarks anywhere around the world. Our brewery is not a part of the negotiations between the EU and WTO. So far we have only the ­information from the media. We have to wait for the official statement to be able to draw any conclusion.’
While Budvar has not been directly involved in WTO meetings, the Czech government has. During the 1999 WTO meetings in Seattle, Czech representatives were pushing to have beer added to Article 22 of the TRIPS Agreement, thereby getting special treatment given to wine, cognac and distillates in terms of using geographic indicators.
The PGI Ceskobudejovické pivo and Budejovické pivo are valid within the EU and in official languages of the EU, including the languages of member countries, to make it comprehensible for the consumers in a particular EU country.