Lager beer “Bud” is available again in Germany after more than ten years

Decades ago, a legal dispute raged over the beer brands “Bud” and “Bit”. Now the world’s largest brewing company AB Inbev is bringing its lager back to the German market under the name “Anheuser-Busch Bud”. Sales will start at a supermarket chain, as the brewer’s German subsidiary announced. More retailers and bars are expected to follow in 2026.

AB Inbev sees growing demand for international lagers in Germany and wants to capitalize on this with the reintroduction of its world-famous beer. According to its own statements, the group is thereby reaffirming its commitment to the highly competitive German beer market.

AB InBev Germany includes, among others, the pilsner brands “Beck’s” and “Hasseröder”, the light beer brand “Spaten” and the Altbier brand “Diebels”. In addition to its headquarters in Bremen, the group has locations in Issum on the Lower Rhine, Wernigerode in Saxony-Anhalt and Munich.

“Anheuser-Busch Bud” is brewed in the European Union, it said. After the Belgian company Inbev took over Anheuser-Busch in 2008, the lager was no longer sold in the German beer market, which was dominated by Pilsner.

German-born brewers Eberhard Anheuser and Adolphus Busch began brewing their lager in the United States in 1876, which is now sold in more than 80 countries worldwide, according to the company.

The Bitburger brewery took action against the Americans in a legal dispute over “Bud” and “Bit”. In 2001, the Federal Court of Justice (BGH) ruled that the American “Budweiser” beer could not be sold under the name “American Bud” in Germany. The judges said the risk of confusion with the older German brand “Bit” was too great.

However, according to the decision at the time, the beer could be sold under the name “Anheuser Busch Bud”. On the beer market, the beginning of the name – in this case “Anheuser” – is usually noticed, stated the 1st Federal Court of Justice Civil Senate (file number: I ZR 212/98, judgment of April 26, 2001).

The US brewery Anheuser-Busch had previously registered two bottle labels as word and figurative marks for beer with the names “Anheuser Busch Bud” and “American Bud” with the German Patent and Trademark Office. In contrast, the Bitburger brewery filed an objection with the trademarks “Bit”, “Bitburger” and “Bitte ein Bit” due to infringement of trademark rights.

The US brewery sells American beers under its “Budweiser” and “Bud” brands in many European countries, with the exception of Germany. Because of the “Budweiser” brand, legal disputes had broken out in numerous countries between it and the Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar based in Ceske Budejovice (until 1918: Budweis).

In 2006, the European Court of Justice found no risk of confusion between the brands “Bit” from the Bitburger brewery and “Bud” from the American brewing giant Anheuser-Busch. The ECJ rejected a corresponding lawsuit. There are only “weak” visual or tonal similarities between “Bit” and “Bud”. The responsible EU authority rightly approved the registration of the “Bud” trademark because “there is no risk of confusion”.

There was also controversy at the 2006 World Cup. After a heated discussion about licensing and trademark rights, Bitburger came into play. The US brewing giant and FIFA partner Anheuser-Busch granted the German private brewery the right to serve its beer brand in the twelve World Cup stadiums. The Americans had secured the rights with FIFA long-term before Germany was confirmed as the host of the 2006 World Cup.