Court: Anheuser-Busch InBev can continue Bud fight

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The European Union’s highest court has referred back to a lower court Anheuser-Busch InBev’s fight over the “Bud” trademark with Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar.
The EU General Court made mistakes when it decided to ban A-B InBev from using the “Bud” trademark in the European Union, the European Court of Justice ruled Tuesday, according to Reuters and The Wall Street Journal.
“The General Court’s judgment contains three errors of law,” the European Court of Justice said in a statement. “Since the state of the proceedings does not permit final judgment to be given by the Court of Justice, the latter refers the case back to the General Court to give judgment afresh.”
St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch, now part of A-B InBev, the world’s largest brewer, applied for an EU trademark for the name Budweiser in 1996.
But Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, which makes Budweiser Budvar, challenged the trademark, claiming it owns the rights because its beer comes from the Czech city of Ceske Budejovice, called Budweis in German