Budweiser trademark dispute

The Budweiser trademark dispute is an ongoing series of legal disputes between two beer companies who claim trademark and geographic origin rights to the name "Budweiser". The dispute has been ongoing since 1907, and has involved more than 100 court cases around the world.

Beer brewing in the city of České Budějovice (German: Böhmisch Budweis), which was then in the Kingdom of Bohemia and is now in the Czech Republic, dates back to the 13th century, when the city was granted brewing rights during the reign of Ottokar II of Bohemia. During the time when both Czech and German were official languages in the kingdom, two breweries were founded in the city. Both breweries made beer which they called "Budweiser", similar to how brewers in the city of Pilsen made a beer generically called Pilsner. The beer from Budweis began exporting to the United States in 1872—1873 and then again since 1933. In 1876, the American brewer Anheuser-Busch began making a beer which they also called "Budweiser", motivated in part by a desire to "brew a beer similar in quality, color, flavor and taste to the beer then made at Budweis", according to Adolphus Busch.

Two breweries currently claim rights to the word "Budweiser":

In addition, Budweiser Bier Bürgerbräu (Czech: Budějovický měšťanský pivovar) was founded in 1795 by German-speaking citizens of Budweis, and began exporting beer under the "Budweiser Bier" name to the United States in 1875. The company was expropriated by the state in 1945, and abandoned use of the Budweiser name at that time. However, after the fall of communism in Czechoslovakia, the government restored the company's rights in Czechoslovakia. The parent company of Budweiser Bier Bürgerbräu, Samson, was acquired by AB InBev in 2014, in part to help support AB InBev's claim to the Budweiser mark.

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