106 year battle over name of bad beer over

It’s done. It’s over. Longer than the battle between the greys and the blues, the battle between the alliterators and the consonators, even the fight of the mongoose versus the cobra, the war between Anheuser-Busch and Budejovicky Budvar is done. The General Court of the European Union didn’t even bother ruling in favor of Anheuser-Busch, simply dismissing the claim made by Budejovicky Budvar. It’s an easy victory for AB InBev, but even better, it’s a very cheap victory.

Once again, hey Anheuser, why don’tcha think about putting a few sheckles of what would’ve been the legal costs toward a better beer, huh?

We’ll take that back, thank you

The corporate world can get down right nasty. The trademark and copyright industry can be even nastier. If you take something that belongs to someone, be prepared to pay, no matter who it is. Even a company that’s currently putting an image of “Happy Fun Time We Are Nonthreatening.”

Like Nintendo.

Nintendo found out that a small dental firm in Malmö, Sweden, “Wii Smile”, had been using the name, and threw their lawyers of doom at the partners, forcing a change. One of the firm’s two partners, Christer Wihlborg, claims innocence, saying that his name starts with “Wi” and there are two owners, which apparently led to a completely independent and innocent decision being made about the surgery’s name. Of course, that doesn’t really work, considering that “Wii” has been a trademarked name since 2006, a year before the firm came into existence.

The weirdest part though? Nintendo says that the only reason they’re taking legal action is (other than the whole trademark and the total same names thing) because they claim the original 2006 trademark applied to not only home video game consoles, but dentistry as well. Yes, you read that right: dentistry.

Be prepared in late 2009 for the next great party game, “Super Mario Cavity Search.”