Bit challenge denied
EU court allows A-B to keep Bud trademark
The European Union upheld Anheuser-Busch’s trademark for Budweiser when its court dismissed German brewer Bitburger’s claim that consumers might confuse Bud and Bit, as Bitburger is known in Germany.
Bitburger has earlier trademarks for Bit and “Bitte ein Bit.”
The court said the two were clearly different, despite the two word trademarks looking slightly similar. Anheuser-Busch’s picture trademarks did not look like Bit’s, it said, and the average German consumer would be well able to distinguish between the pronunciation of “Bit” and “Bud.”
“Considered as a whole, the marks at issue are not similar and there is no likelihood of confusion,” the court said in a statement.
