Budweiser wins trademark case

BRUSSELS - Europe's second-highest court yesterday dismissed a case taken by German brewer Bitburger Brauerei against US rival Budweiser over the right to use the word "Bud" as a trademark.

The German company, which brews Bitburger Beer, took the case to the Court of First Instance in a bid to overturn a decision in 2004 by Germany's Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market in which it found in favour of the US brewer.

Bitburger Brauerei based its opposition on the existence of its own national trademark "BIT" and the earlier figurative trademarks "BIT" and "Bitte ein Bit", which it said were close to the word "Bud".

"The Court of First Instance concludes that, considered as a whole, the marks at issue are not similar and there is no likelihood of confusion," the court said in a statement.

Bitburger has two months to appeal the decision to the Luxembourg-based European Court of Justice, Europe's highest court.

- REUTERS