Budweiser doesn’t take too kindly to the use of “Bud” in the name of any beverage. Budweiser recently targeted an Argentinean wine maker Budini over the use of Bud in the name.
Budweiser sent a cease & desist letter to the Budini’s importer to Vine Connections based in San Francisco demanding they stop using the name. Instead of fighting a legal battle over trademarks, the importer changed the wine’s U.S. name to Bodini. Budini is actually an acronym for Based Upon Dreams Of Individuals, Not Institutions. The new name keeps the acronym alive – Based On Dreams, instead of Upon.
Ed Lehrman, a partner in Vine Connections:
“The fact that they (Anheuser-Busch) lay claim to these letters for all alcoholic beverages seems a little unfair considering the lack of consumer confusion in this case.”
There’s truth to that. You would be hard pressed to find a case of brand confusion. The best part? Vine Connections is donating the money it WOULD have spent paying fighting Budweiser’s obviously very bored lawyers. The money benefits the Dominio del Plata Scholarship Foundation, dedicated to providing educational and recreational opportunities to the children of Bodini’s (Budini’s) employees in Mendoza, Argentina. [Huffington Post, Washington Post]
And their new slogan—–
“When you say ‘Bod’-ini , you’ve said it all”