Text 12198, 79 rader
Skriven 2008-08-17 12:39:29 av Glen Jamieson
     Kommentar till en text av Jim Weller
Ärende: BUDWEISER  80817
========================
 -=> Quoting Jim Weller to Glen Jamieson <=-

 DD> Keep in mind the names of the original founders af the American
 DD> brewers - Anheuser (where d'ye suppose that name hails from?) and Busch
 DD> (same question). I'd say that they have as much claim to the Budweiser
 DD> apellation as the Czech honyocks.
 
 GJ>   If you can find anything about the origins of the name, I
 GJ> would be interested. Then, old bud(dy), I would be a little more
 GJ> weiser. 

 JW> The Czechs have been brewing beer commercially since at least 1285
 JW> in the city of Budweis. They developed a distinctive style of beer
 JW> just like Pilsener of Pilsen.

 JW> Budweiser Bier Burgerbrau was founded in 1795 by German-speaking
 JW> Czech citizens in Budweis and has been exporting Budweiser Bier to
 JW> America since 1875.

So, is the city of Budweis in Germany or the Czech Republic?  (I can't
find it in my school atlas, and in any case, borders in that part of
the world have often changed over the years.)  I have drunk the Czech
version in Germany, Austria and England, but, oddly enough, not in the
Czech Republic.  There, I had a rather sweet German Warsteiner, Czech
Pilsener Urquell (good, but a bit skunky when first opened), Krusvice
draft beer (excellent) and Pivo (OK).

 JW> American Anheuser-Busch was founded by German-Americans in 1852 and
 JW> incorporated in 1875. They have marketed the Budweiser bbrand in the
 JW> United States since the 1870s and claim first registration of
 JW> trademark in that country.

So now we know which beer is the fake.

 JW> Then there's a third company called Budweiser Budvar founded in 1895
 JW> by Czech-speaking citizens of Budweis.

Now you are confusing me.  I should have looked more closely at the
bottles of Czech Budweiser which I have consumed in Europe.  If that
also comes from the name city it could not be considered fake.

 JW> Anheuser-Busch cites prior registration of the trademark in the US
 JW> and has battled for the right to use it worldwide in many legal
 JW> disputes against the two Europe-based companies in several countries
 JW> off and on since 1907.

One 400 pound gorilla against two 100 kg chimpanzees? Only lawyers win.

 JW> The Europeans want to maintain/regain their right to market their
 JW> beer under the trademark. Burgerbrau has marketed its beer as
 JW> Budweiser Bier since 1802, Budvar has marketed its product this way
 JW> since 1895. They both claim that Budweiser is not a generic name,

 JW> The existence of several beers with similar names has caused
 JW> problems in some markets. A long-standing agreement between the
 JW> American and the two Czech breweries divided the rights to the name
 JW> "Budweiser", so that the Anheuser-Busch product is marketed as
 JW> Budweiser in the US and Canda and as "Bud" in several European
 JW> countries and as Anheuser-Busch in Germany where the beers brewed in
 JW> the original city retains the rights to the name. The United Kingdom
 JW> is one of the few places where both the American company and Budvar
 JW> sold under the name Budweiser.

No one in the UK gave me other than the Czech product.

 JW> In the 1990s the American company tried to force the Czech companies
 JW> to stop using the name Budweiser althogether. After tasting both
 JW> beers officially in court the judge dismissed the case saying that
 JW> the American company need not fear that anyone would confuse the
 JW> Czech product with theirs!

A judge with good taste.  Was that a European or an American court?

Thanks for carrying out that research, and clarifying the issue.

___ Blue Wave/DOS v2.30 [NR]

--- FLAME v2.0/b
 * Origin: Braintap BBS Adelaide Australia (3:800/449)