Budejovicky Budvar loses battle over non-beer products at European court

The Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar has lost a court battle aimed at preventing America's Anheuser-Busch from using the Budweiser and Budvar brand names on non-beer products such as T-shirts and barbecue sauces. The Czech firm had sought to prevent Anheuser-Busch from registering the brand names as trademarks throughout the European Union. But the European Court of First Instance ruled that the "appellations of origin relied on" by Budejovicky Budvar only applied to beer and other similar products.