'Bud' case sent back to Finland

BRUSSELS, Belgium -- The latest round of the legal battle between Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar and U.S. beer giant Anheuser-Busch Ltd. remained unresolved Tuesday after the European Union's high court passed the case back to judges in Finland.

The case is part of a tussle dating back almost a century and involving dozens of lawsuits for rights to the Budweiser, Bud and Budvar beer labels.

Finland's supreme court sought advice from the European Court of Justice in Luxembourg after Anheuser-Busch brought an action in 1996 seeking to prevent the Czech brewer from calling its beers Budweiser, Bud, Budweiser Budvar and a series of other names.

The Luxembourg court said it was up to the Finns to decide how the rules applied in the case.

Both sides hailed the EU decision, saying it cleared the way for them to win the battle in Finland.

Budvar claims it has rights in Finland dating back to the 1960s. Anheuser-Busch points out that a Finnish court ruled that those rights had lapsed, but Budvar says international law protects its earlier rights.

The two companies are involved in more than 40 lawsuits fighting over the use of the name, a battle that started in 1906 when Budvar first exported beer to the United States.

In the markets where the Czech brewer is barred from using the German version name of its premium lager, it has sought to sell it under its Czech name Budvar.

Since 2001, Budvar has exported to the United States under the name Czechvar.

Among recent legal rulings, the Czechs have claimed success in South Korea, Japan, Spain and Lithuania, while Anheuser-Busch cried victory in Nigerian and Hungarian courts.

On Tuesday, Anheuser-Busch shares fell 21 cents, or 0.4 percent, to close at $50.73 on the New York Stock Exchange -- in the middle of their 52-week trading range of $49.42 to $54.74.