Budweiser, the official beer of the Football World Cup, will be banned from having its name directly appearing anywhere in Germany when the event kicks off in June - despite its parent company forking out $40m to become one of the event's global sponsors.
The trademark battle between the US Budweiser's parent company Anheuser-Busch and its Czech rival Budweiser Budvar - a dispute that has been going on for almost 100 years - is still at the centre of legal actions in about 40 different jurisdictions.
However, Germany is Budweiser Budvar's territory and the US firm cannot use the Budweiser name there.
The dispute between the two producers means the US beer giant will only be able to advertise its beer as Anheuser-Busch Bud or Anheuser-Busch B in Germany, although it may reach an agreement with the German Bitburger brewery for the use of the word 'Bud' in some instances.
The German brewery, producer of Bitburger beer or 'Bit', has already been a successful challenger through the German courts to A-B's efforts to advertise Budweiser in Germany, and the word 'Bud' has been denied universally due to its similarity to 'Bit'.
In order to advertise its beer as 'Bud' at tournament venues, A-B will have to grant Bitburger the right to sell its own beer at all stadiums. Germans had protested about their national beers not being available.
Tony Jennings, CEO of Budweiser Budvar UK, said: "I wouldn't want to be accused of schadenfreude, but we have to put up with a similar situation in the US where we have to sell our beer as 'Czechvar'."
The trademark battle between the US Budweiser's parent company Anheuser-Busch and its Czech rival Budweiser Budvar - a dispute that has been going on for almost 100 years - is still at the centre of legal actions in about 40 different jurisdictions.
However, Germany is Budweiser Budvar's territory and the US firm cannot use the Budweiser name there.
The dispute between the two producers means the US beer giant will only be able to advertise its beer as Anheuser-Busch Bud or Anheuser-Busch B in Germany, although it may reach an agreement with the German Bitburger brewery for the use of the word 'Bud' in some instances.
The German brewery, producer of Bitburger beer or 'Bit', has already been a successful challenger through the German courts to A-B's efforts to advertise Budweiser in Germany, and the word 'Bud' has been denied universally due to its similarity to 'Bit'.
In order to advertise its beer as 'Bud' at tournament venues, A-B will have to grant Bitburger the right to sell its own beer at all stadiums. Germans had protested about their national beers not being available.
Tony Jennings, CEO of Budweiser Budvar UK, said: "I wouldn't want to be accused of schadenfreude, but we have to put up with a similar situation in the US where we have to sell our beer as 'Czechvar'."
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