Japan: Anheuser-Busch claimed on February 9 it has exclusive rights to the Budweiser trademark in Japan, despite statements made last week by rival Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar, according to St. Louis Business Journal.

Stephen Burrows, president and chief executive of Anheuser-Busch International, said the Japanese court's action last week allows Budvar to continue using the Budejovicky Budvar trademark along with its trade name "Budweiser Budvar N.C.," which is used similar to Anheuser-Busch's name at the bottom of the label.

"The Japanese Courts have recognized that our Budweiser trademark is, and has been for years, a well-known and famous trademark," said Burrows, in the statement. "The decision by the Supreme Court of Japan has no effect on Anheuser-Busch's ability to continue selling Budweiser in Japan."

Last week, Budejovicky Budvar said Japan's highest court upheld Budvar's rights to the trade name in that country, and gave Budvar's trading company in Japan the right to use the name Budweiser Budvar N.C.

The two companies have been in court battles over the Budweiser name for nearly 100 years. A-B has said it has used the Budweiser trademark since 1876, 19 years before Budejovicky Budvar was established. Budvar was founded in a town called Budweis by the German-speaking people that populated the area in Czechoslovakia at the time.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc., the world's largest brewer, manufactures and recycles aluminum cans and operates theme parks. The company has won exclusive rights to the "Bud" and "Budweiser" names in Australia, Denmark, Finland, Italy, Nigeria, New Zealand, Spain and Sweden, but has lost rights to the trademarks in some European countries.

11 February, 2004