On 16 November 2004, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) gave its judgment in Anheuser-Busch v Budejovický Budvar, case C-245/02.
Anheuser-Busch is the proprietor in Finland of the trade mark Budweiser, which it first applied for in 1980. Budvar registered its trade name in the Czechoslovakian commercial register in 1967. It was registered in Czech (‘Budejovický Budvar, národní podnik'), English (‘Budweiser Budvar, National Corporation') and French (‘Budweiser Budvar, Entreprise nationale').
Anheuser-Busch brought an action before the Finnish Court to prohibit Budvar from use in Finland of the trade marks Budejovický Budvar, Budweiser Budvar, Budweiser, Budweis, Budvar, Bud and Budweiser Budbraü as signs for the marketing and sale of beer produced by Budvar. Anheuser-Busch argued that the trade name and signs used by Budvar could be confused with its trade marks since those signs and trade marks designate identical or similar types of goods.
