You can't use that name here, Bud!

Beechwood-aged or not, an EU court decided today that Budweiser-brewer Anheuser-Busch should not have rights to the "Bud" brand throughout the 27 nation bloc. It is a victory for the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, which said it had registered the name in France, Austria and former Czechoslovakia in 1958. Anheuser will now have to rely on registering its trademark in each individual member state. It said it already had trademark protection in 23 of the EU states. Losing the right to a community-wide trademark can be a major blow for a firm, as gaining European Union-wide rights avoids the lengthy and costly process of going through the systems in individual countries and gaining separate trademarks in each of these.

It is the latest stage of a long-running trademark dispute between the two brewers. Budejovicky Budvar was founded in 1895 in Ceske Budejovice, which was known as Budweis by its German-speaking inhabitants. Beer had been brewed there since 1265. Budweiser was first produced in St Louis in 1852 and was America's first national beer brand. The name was taken because it was familiar to the German founders of the company.

With a consumer spending slowdown across the United States and Europe, it is not yet clear whether Anheuser-Busch will appeal today's ruling.