The King of (Unlicensed) Merch: 10 Budweiser Branded Items You Absolutely Do Not Need
- Michal Cizek/AFP/Getty Images
Earlier this week, Budweiser’s parent company Anheuser-Busch lost a somewhat important legal battle against Budejovicky Budvar, a Czech brewery peddling a beer that is also called Budweiser. The deal, basically, is that the German translation for the beer’s hometown of Ceske Budejovice translates to “Budweis” in German, and they registered the name in England before Anheuser-Busch got a chance to lay claim, so they can continue selling their identically-named beer alongside regular Budweiser in UK stores. It’s a real pickle. But also, probably not the end of the world for a juggernaut like Budweiser, if I had to hazard a guess.
It did get me to thinking, though. What about all the other, far less professional infringements on the Budweiser copyright that are right under our noses, every day in every way? Perhaps the majority of them are to be found in the world of online craft-selling? Oh, are they ever.
