ev has confirmed its purchase of the Czech company Pivovar Samson, and has stated that the agreement “further strengthens” its position in the legal dispute with Budejovický Budvar.AB InBev is engaged in a row that dates back roughly a hundred years over the Budweiser name, with Czech state-owned and export-focused brewer, Budejovicky Budvar NP.
Ceske Budejovice, or "Budweis" in German, is a city of 96,000 people in the Czech Republic that has a brewing tradition dating back to the 13th century, when it was within Bohemia. A person or thing which comes from the city is called a Budweiser.
In 1785 town officials established the Burgerliches Brauhaus Budweis brewery and around a hundred years later, the beer became the official beer to the king of Wurttemberg and exports to the U.S. began in 1871. The brewery is now known as Pivovar Samson and is still based in Ceske Budejovice/Budweis. Although it does not use Budweiser as the name of any of its beers, it uses Budweiser as a geographical indication to denote the place of origin of its beer.
In the 1890s the citizens of Ceske Budejovice/Budweis established a company, which is the present day Budejovicky Budvar. The company began exporting the beer under the Budweiser name and they registered the name as a Trade Mark soon after.
Meanwhile Anheuser-Busch started using the Budweiser brand in 1876 and also registered it as a Trade Mark in the US. They believe that owning two-thirds of Pivovar Samson will give them greater strength in court.
“The Samson brewery today produces and commercialises amongst others the Samson, 1795 and Pito brands,” said A-B InBev. “We are currently evaluating the expansion of the use of Samson’s Budweiser brand.
“The acquisition further strengthens A-B InBev’s legal position, particularly as it relates to the Budweiser brand."
Budvar disputes this argument saying that nothing has changed regarding the dispute and that "the ownership change has no relevance on trademarks and the ongoing court cases".
