Czech Republic News Archives

January 27, 2012

Anheuser-Busch Acquires Rights to Czech Brewer’s Budweiser Marks

The leading global brewer Anheuser-Busch InBev, owner of the US Budweiser trademark, has recently acquired the rights to the Budweiser trademarks held by a Czech brewery Budejovicky Mestansky Pivovar (BMP).

BMP and a larger, state-owned brewery Budejovicky Budvar are both based in the town of Budejovice, also known as Budweis, and have both been involved in disputes with Anheuser-Busch InBev over the rights to the Budweiser mark, the rights to which Budejovicky Budvar owns in most European countries, where Anheuser-Busch is aiming to expand.

“Anheuser-Busch InBev and BMP have settled all their trademark disputes and Anheuser-Busch inBev has acquired the rights to BMP’s Budweiser trademarks,” a spokeswoman for Anheuser-Busch InBev stated for the beverage industry news and information portal just-drinks.com on January 12, adding that, “BMP’s former owners will own the BMP brewing operations in the Czech Republic and the non-Budweiser trademarks”.

The number of trademarks that Anheuser-Busch InBev acquired from BMP and the number of European countries affected by this deal have not been disclosed.

Anheuser-Busch InBev claims that the above is unrelated to Budejovicky Budvar and concerns BMP’s Budweiser intellectual property rights only.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Beverage industry portal just-drinks.com

September 23, 2011

Oscar-Winning Director Sues Czech File-Hosting Site for Breach of Copyright

Czech film director Jan Svěrák has recently filed a copyright infringement suit against Czech file-hosting website sharerapid.cz, which offered unauthorized download of his latest movie “Kooky”. The director is demanding compensation totaling EUR 21,740 (USD 29,738).

Svěrák, who won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film in 1996 for his movie “Kolya”, is demanding EUR 10,870 (USD 14,869) in damages from the Czech firm Sharerapid a.s and the same amount from Jaroslav Urban, president of the US-based company Sharerapid Inc, which owns Sharerapid a.s. Svěrák’s lawyer František Vyskočil explained that this amount was based on the number of times the film “Kooky” was downloaded from sharerapid.cz (approximately 13,000 times), as well as the estimated loss in box office earnings.

The suit also stresses that, in addition to providing unauthorized downloading of the movie, the website owners also profited from it. The subscription to the website ranges from EUR 8 (USD 11) per month for “downloads with guaranteed maximum speed” to EUR 243 (USD 332) per year. “This film cost EUR 1.62 million (USD 2.2 million) to make and so far the return has been EUR 1.22 million (USD 1.67 million). It is therefore absurd that the creators make a loss from the film, whereas some stranger is making a profit from it. It’s theft,” Svěrák told the Czech weekly Ekonom.

The Czech Pirate Party is opposing Svěrák’s suit, arguing that the current copyright laws are not adequate in an era of the Internet. “The authors themselves should realize that according to many studies Internet pirates are the best customers of the music and film industry. In our view, after the release of the film in cinemas, the author [Svěrák] should make the film available for download from his web pages and enable straight-forward and, first and foremost, direct payment to his account,” stated Jaroslav Kučera from the Czech Pirate Party.

The Czech Pirate Party has recently launched movie-downloading websites in support of a 16-year-old boy from the northern Czech city of Liberec charged with copyright infringement for providing links to approximately 3,300 movies and serials on his website.

The Czech Anti-Piracy Union estimates that in 2010 Czech filmmakers lost approximately EUR 41 million (USD 56 million) in lost DVD sales, revenues from legal downloads and unsold cinema tickets due to piracy.

Vyskočil said that the judicial proceedings are expected to start this fall. Despite the fact that the trial has not begun yet, the Municipal Court in Prague has already ordered sharerapid.cz to remove the film “Kooky” from its list of films until the case is resolved.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Czech Position online news portal

Czech Supreme Court Rules Against Entrepreneur Who Claimed Copyright to Popular Board Game

The Czech Supreme Court has recently ruled against the entrepreneur Přemysl Chmelař who demanded approximately EUR 235,195 (USD 321,807) in damages from the state for being refused the right to register a copyright for the popular board game “Člověče, nezlob se” (Don’t get angry, man).

The Czech PTO and the Prague Municipal Court argued that this game is in the same rank as chess or checkers, i.e. in the public domain, and ruled that the phrase “Člověče, nezlob se” is part of colloquial Czech.

Chmelař is just one of many people who have tried to obtain the rights to this game, which originated in ancient India and which exists under numerous names and versions all over the world.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Czech Position online news portal

August 30, 2011

Czech Police Arrest Counterfeit Drugs Gang

The Czech police have recently arrested 11 people suspected of manufacturing and distributing counterfeit anabolic steroids and other drugs.

The police said eight Czechs and three Slovaks were arrested following a surveillance operation of the illegal drug-manufacturing facility in the Zlín region, eastern Czech Republic, where hundreds of thousands of tablets, including 24 kilograms of an anti-impotence drug similar to Viagra, were found.

The criminal group, consisting of former athletes, bodybuilders, fitness trainers and competition organizers, sold the tablets not only to athletes but also to people suffering from various illnesses and erectile dysfunction. The police believe the drugs were distributed throughout the EU.

If found guilty, the suspects could face between five and 12 years in prison.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic at our Balkan Regional Office.

Source: Czech Position online news portal

Czech Brewer Wins Trademark Case Against US Rival in Bulgaria

A Bulgarian court has ruled in favor of the state-owned Czech brewer Budějovický Budvar in a trademark dispute with the US-based brewer Anheuser-Busch over the right to use the trademark “Bud” in Bulgaria.

The Sofia Municipal Court rejected Anheuser-Busch’s attempt to challenge Budvar’s registration of “Bud” as a protected geographic indication of origin and ordered cancellation of two Anheuser-Busch trademarks: “Bud” and “American Bud”. Budvar is seeking cancellation of other trademarks registered by the US brewer in Bulgaria, including “Anheuser-Busch Bud”.

Budějovický Budvar and Anheuser-Busch have been involved in a long-running legal dispute over the rights to the “Bud” trademark in the EU. You can read more about this case here.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Czech Position news portal

Czech Real Estate Firm Files Trademark Infringement Suit Against Government

Czech real estate firm Czech Point 101 has filed a lawsuit against the Czech government for trademark infringement over the use of the name Czech Point, which the Interior Ministry is using to denote a national network of over 6,600 offices that issue various government documents, like verified signatures, land registry statements, company excerpts and criminal records.

Nathan Brown, owner of Czech Point 101, which has been providing real estate and property management services in the Czech Republic since 2003, explained that they registered the trademark with the Czech IPO in 2006 to cover the real estate and property management services they provide, while the government registered its mark in year 2007.

The Ministry argues that their use of this name cannot cause confusion, considering that the government provides different services from the ones provided by the real estate agency.

But Nathan Brown disagrees. “Multiple people stop at our office and we get several phone calls per month from people asking for land registry statements and criminal records from the government. It’s very clear. There is obvious evidence of confusion,” he said.

Czech Point 101 opposed the government’s attempt to register the Czech Point trademark at the EU level with the Office of Harmonization for the Internal Market (OHIM) in 2008. OHIM accepted the real estate agency’s opposition and refused to register the Czech government’s trademark. The government’s appeal was rejected, and OHIM ordered the Czech government to pay the real estate agency’s legal fees for the appeal. According to the news portal Czech Position, this money is yet to be paid by the government to the real estate agency.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Czech Position news portal; The Prague Post

Czech Pirate Party Launches Movie-Download Portals in Protest Against Prosecution of File-Sharing Teenager

Under the slogan “Linking is not a crime”, the political party called the Czech Pirate Party has launched two movie-downloading websites in protest against the prosecution of a 16-year-old boy from the northern Czech city of Liberec, who is facing a EUR 5 million (USD 7.2 million) damages claim brought by the Czech Anti-Piracy Union for posting links to copyrighted works on his website.

The first website launched on July 28 by the Czech Pirate Party is Tipnafilm.cz. It does not host any copyright infringing material, only links to where it can be downloaded. The second website launched in early July by the Czech Pirate Party is Piratskefilmy.cz, and it carries approximately 20,000 links to over 5,800 movies.

The Czech Pirate Party Chairman Ivan Bartoš stressed in a statement, “We denounce that the police should be run by the propaganda of the Anti-Piracy Union and that it should harass anybody who puts a video on his/her web page or Facebook page. We challenge the Anti-Piracy Union to stop bullying the under aged and to aim its preposterous claims at the Pirate Party.”

The Czech Pirate Party says that, although no one has contacted them so far regarding the two newly launched websites, they are preparing a team of lawyers to deal with any potential lawsuits.

According to the current law in the Czech Republic, copying something for one’s own use and downloading it from the Internet is not illegal. However, sharing copyrighted material, like a movie or a CD, is illegal.

The Czech Anti-Piracy Union, which represents film and music distribution companies and which instigated the proceedings against the 16-year-old, has not released any statement regarding the two websites so far, noting that they don’t want to reveal their strategy.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster; blog TorrentFreak

July 25, 2011

Czech Republic Changes Fees Under Budapest Treaty

The Czech government has informed the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) of a change in the schedule of fees charged by the Czech Collection of Microorganisms, an international depositary authority under the Budapest Treaty on the International Recognition of the Deposit of Microorganisms for the Purposes of Patent Procedure. The new fees will come into force on July 30, 2011.

The new fee for a patent deposit and storage of cultures for 30 years is USD 1,348 (EUR 952), the fee for issuance of a viability statement is USD 41 (EUR 29), and the fee for furnishing a sample is USD 60 (EUR 42). A value added tax of 20 percent will be charged in addition, if applicable, along with an extra charge for handling, postage and banking.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: WIPO

April 27, 2011

European Court of Justice Returns “Bud” Trademark Case to Lower Court

The European Court of Justice, the highest court in the EU, ruled on March 29, 2011 that the long-running legal case over the rights to the “Bud” trademark between the US-based brewer Anheuser-Busch and its Czech competitor Budejovicky Budvar should be referred back to the lower-instance General Court.

The European Court of Justice found errors in the General Court’s judgment, and since the state of the proceedings does not allow the Court of Justice to pass the final ruling, it is sending the case back to the General Court for review.

The dispute between the two brewers started in the mid 1990s, when Anheuser-Busch filed applications to register the figurative mark featuring the word “Bud” in the EU. The Czech brewer opposed this application, maintaining that it had registered an appellation of origin “Bud” for beer. The Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) rejected Budvar’s complaint and granted Anheuser-Busch protection for the “Bud” trademark in the EU.

Budejovicky Budvar challenged this decision before the General Court, Europe’s second highest court, and in 2008 this court ruled in favor of the Czech brewer, arguing that the appellation of origin “Bud” was protected in several EU states under the 1975 Lisbon Agreement.

Anheuser-Busch then challenged this decision before the European Court of Justice, citing three errors in the General Court’s findings and in its interpretation of the European trademark law on the application of national rights:

• Trademark registration can only be opposed when the mark is used in trade;
• Trademark disputes have to occur on the territory where the trademark is used and protected;
• Trademark use during the time period between filing for protection and obtaining protection should not count toward establishing proprietorship.

In a separate legal battle between these two companies, the European Court of Justice ruled in July 2010 that Anheuser-Busch cannot register Budweiser as an EU trademark because Budejovicky Budvar had staked a prior claim to the name. You can read more about this case here.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia office.

Source: Reuters, Wall Street Journal

January 20, 2011

Czech IPO Introduces Changes Concerning Official Fee Payment

The Czech Industrial Property Office has introduced an important change concerning the payment of official fees for industrial property matters. Namely, as of January 2011, the date on which the amount is actually entered in the Czech IPO’s bank account is considered as the date on which a payment is made.

Previously the date of deposit was considered the date on which a payment was made.

These changes are the result of recent amendments to the Czech legislation concerning taxes in general.

According to the Czech IPO, this notice concerns the official fees that must be paid on time, such as the annuity fees, fees for substantial examination, printing fees and fees for filing the opposition and appeal.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic or Ljiljana Halilovic.

Source: Czech IPO

November 29, 2010

Czech Firm Develops DVD that Stores Data for 160 Years

A Prague-based firm has developed a new rewritable DVD called Data Trescor Disc, which can allegedly store data for 160 years, thus resolving the problem with storing electronic data, the Prague Daily Monitor reports, citing a text originally published in the Czech daily Hospodarske noviny. The firm has applied to register a patent in the Czech Republic, after which it intends to apply for a global patent, the daily stated.

Regular DVDs can store data for only a few years. What makes the new DVD different is that ceramic and metal nanolayers with a four-atom depth are used for the recording layer, unlike the ordinary DVDs, which use organic materials. The new DVD is transparent or smoke-colored, and it bears the motto “Record me once, record me forever”. The DVD is resistant to UV radiation, magnetism, radiation, moisture and extreme temperatures.

“The technology was developed for almost three years. We are the only ones in the world to use it,” a firm representative said for Hospodarske noviny. “We place powder with metal and ceramic microparticles between two polycarbonate layers of the disc in thin nanolayers and then paste them together by UV radiation,” he explained.

“We knew that if we want to survive, we must do it differently and develop some new technology that is more advanced and China cannot copy it,” the firm representative added. “We needed a narrow, but very firm layer into which the data could be engraved. Like the cuneiform writing that also survived hundreds of years,” he added.

The firm tested the DVD’s lifespan by exposing it to extreme temperatures of up to 80 degrees Celsius for almost a year and then watching the quality of the recording.

Hospodarske noviny reported that the Czech computer and video games magazine LEVEL also tested the new DVD, where magazine staff burnt the same film on a standard DVD and the new DVD, and then placed the two DVDs behind a window for two weeks at a temperature of 30 degrees Celsius. When they tried to play the film, the organic DVD was quite unreadable, while the ceramic DVD played without any problems.

However, the new DVD, just like ordinary DVDs, is not resistant to scratches and mechanical damage.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Pavlovic at our Macedonia Office.

Source: Prague Daily Monitor

August 24, 2010

European Court of Justice Rejects Anheuser-Busch's Bid to Register Budweiser as Its Trademark in EU

The European Court of Justice ruled on July 29, 2010, that the global brewer Anheuser-Busch cannot register the word “Budweiser” as an EU trademark for its beer. This decision is in the favor of the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, which had a prior claim to the name through the trademarks “Budweiser” and “Budweiser Budvar”.

Anheuser-Busch can still hold the trademark within individual EU member states, as it currently does in 23 European countries, but not across the EU trading bloc as a whole. This ruling upholds all current registrations and does not give the Czech brewer greater rights or protection.

The co-existence agreements between the two parties were established in the 1870s agreeing to the Budweiser beer being sold in the United States by Anheuser-Busch and the Budweiser brand sold by Budejovicky Budvar in Europe. However, Anheuser-Busch filed an application in 1996 to register the Budweiser brand on the EU territory as well. Budejovicky Budvar challenged this application three years later, arguing it had already registered this name for its beer brands in Germany, Austria, Italy and the Benelux countries.

The name “Budweiser” means “from Budweis”, which is the German form of the name for the Czech city Budejkovice.

In 2005, the EU’s Office for Harmonization in the Internal Market (OHIM) ruled that Anheuser-Busch could not register Budweiser as the EU brand. Before taking its case to the European Court of Justice, the brewing giant also unsuccessfully appealed the OHIM’s decision before the European General Court in March 2009.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: Deutsche Welle

June 23, 2010

Czech Republic Applies for Patent Protection for Powdered Beer Recipe

The Czech Research Institute of Brewing and Malting has applied for a worldwide patent to protect its allegedly unique powdered beer recipe.

The Institute has been producing powdered beer since the early 1990s by mixing the powdered hop wort with water and yeast and leaving it to sit around for three weeks. Now it wants to protect its recipe against other powdered beer recipes.

According to experts, the Czechs face tough competition as there already exist two patents connected with powdered beer production, one in Korea and one in Germany. Moreover, the Institute had applied for patent protection before, but was not able to obtain it from the Czech PTO because it was late in submitting the explanation on how this particular beer powder differs from similar patents.

Josef Dvornák, director of the International Department at the Czech PTO, explained that the patent application has already been published while the approval process will take some time. “[Following the publication], the applicant usually waits 36 months, three years, for the next decision about whether to continue with the process of granting a patent or not. This is the time when the applicant can try to find a business opportunity to sell the license or find some partners for producing the patent technology or so on,” he explained.

Tomáš Zoufalý from the Institute said that the aim of their initiative is to bring the Czech beer closer to people who cannot obtain it the usual way. “This is ideal for home production, or for those on the ranch, or in the mountain hut or let’s say in the Alpine tourist resorts,” he added.

Approximately 50 tons of Czech powdered beer is sold annually around the world, mainly in the countries of the former Soviet Union, Canada and Singapore.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: Radio Prague

Czech Businessmen Not Interested in Financing Science and Research at Universities

Over the last seven years, the Czech universities submitted only 14 applications for patents, one of the main reasons for this being that the Czech businessmen are not interested in financing science and research at universities, stated the representatives of the Ceska hlava project, aimed at supporting and promoting Czech science and technology, on May 20, 2010.

“Research at universities is impossible without subsidies from the state budget,” Vaclav Marek from Ceska hlava added, noting that only 3.5 percent of Czech companies said that they have cooperated with universities. He emphasized that foreign companies are more interested in Czech patents than domestic companies.

Figures released by the Czech Statistical Office show that only 0.6 percent of the investments into research at universities in 2008 came from entrepreneurs. A study conducted by the Czech Statistical Office for Ceska hlava shows that the state provides approximately 91.6 percent of the financing for science and research. This percentage in the EU overall is 80.7 percent.

For more information, please contact Aleksandra Noveska at our Macedonia office.

Source: Prague Daily Monitor

October 21, 2009

Seminar on the Role of Trademarks and Geographical Indications in Prague

On 26 and 27 November 2009 in Prague, the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), in cooperation with the Industrial Property Office of the Czech Republic (IPO CZ), will organize an inter-regional seminar on the role of trademarks and geographical indications in creating and developing a nation brand.

To register for the seminar, please send an email to the following address: zhanzalova@upv.cz.

According to the IPO CZ, the conference will address the topics such as:

• WIPO Tools for Countries in Transition
• Branding Strategies at the National, Regional and International Levels
• Use and Protection of Trademarks and Geographical Indications in Countries in Transition
• Well-known Trademarks and Geographical Indications used for Nation Branding in the Czech Republic
• Experience, Good Practices and Examples of Successful Nation Branding
• Development and Strengthening of a Nation Brand in Countries in Transition

The seminar is organized in English, Czech and Russian languages interpreted simultaneously.

For more information, please contact Jelena Jankovic in our Balkan Regional Office.

April 14, 2009

Registration Opens for International Conference on IP Rights Protection in Prague

Registration for the “International Conference on Intellectual Property Rights Protection in Europe” in Prague, Czech Republic, opened on March 19, 2009. Online registration can be done at www.seminar.upv.cz

The conference will take place on 21 and 22 May, 2009, as one of the events that mark the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, as well as the 90th anniversary of the establishment of the Czech Patent Office and the Czech Patent Court.

According to the Czech Industrial Property Office, the conference will address the following general topics:

1. Strategy of industrial property protection in Europe;
2. Quality of patents;
3. Community patents;
4. Judicial patent system in Europe.

In addition to heads and representatives of patent offices from various EU member states, keynote speakers will include Alison Brimelow, president of the European Patent Office (EPO), Margot Fröhlinger, head of the European Commission’s Directorate of Internal Market and Services, Willem A. Hoyng, president of the European Patent Lawyers Association, Hubert Plugge, director of Quality Management at EPO, and Thierry Sueur, vice-president of BusinessEurope.

The conference is jointly organized by the Czech Industrial Property Office and the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO).

For more information, please contact Jovana Miocinovic in our Balkan Regional Office.