EU court upholds trade mark ruling against AB Inbev

LUXEMBOURG, March 25 (Reuters) - A European Union court on Wednesday upheld a ruling denying Anheuser-Busch Inbev INTB.BR the right to register the Budweiser name as a trade mark in the EU.

U.S. brewer Anheuser-Busch, bought by Belgian counterpart Inbev last year, applied for an EU trade mark in 1996 for the name "Budweiser" for its "beer, ale, porter, malted alcoholic and non-alcoholic beverages".

The application was opposed by Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, which makes beer marketed in the European Union as Budweiser Budvar, or Czechvar in North America.

Budvar's opposition was upheld by the European trade mark office, OHIM. After a failed appeal at OHIM, Anheuser-Busch took the case to the Luxembourg-based EU Court of First Instance.

"The Court of First Instance upholds OHIM's decision not to register the word 'Budweiser' as a community trade mark, inter alia for beer, for the American brewer, Anheuser-Busch," the court, Europe's second-highest, said in a statement. (Reporting by Michele Sinner, writing by Bate Felix, editing by Dale Hudson)