Antonio Tizzano, advocate general of the European Court of Justice, has ruled that the Czech company, Budejovice Budvar should be allowed to use the "Bud" tradename in Austria, effectively ruling against the US brewer, Anheuser-Busch.
Budejovice Budvar had argued that it had the rights to the Bud name in Austria under a bilateral agreement between the Austrian government and the former Czechoslovakia.

The advocate general's opinion will be used in the Austrian court's final judgment, due later this year. In about 80% of cases, his opinion is followed by the court.

22 May, 2003