|
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
||
|
|||||
|
|
|
|
|
 Acties Acties blijven een belangrijk onderdeel van Zythos. Een van de nieuwe middelen om efficient acties te voeren,
is het medium Internet. Volgende acties werden reeds gevoerd.
|
|
|
ANHEUSER-BUSCH vs DUBUISSON: INTERNATIONAL PROTEST In the previous issue of De Zytholoog, we reported on the decision by the International Arbitration Court in Paris in a case brought by theAmerican brewery Anheuser-Buschagainst Dubuisson,a Belgian brewery, over the latter's use of the brand name 'Bush'. As reported then, the court ruling forbade Dubuisson from using the brand name Bush for its beers throughout the entire world except in the following seven European countries: the BeNeLux, France,Italy, Switzerland and Portugal. The decision took effect 1 July this year. Protest This decision by the court drew indignant reactions from both within Belgium and the rest of he world. A number of beer lovers registered personal protestby sending emails to Anheuser-Busch. These email protests received what seemed to be a form-reply that managed to include a bit of hypocracy: A-B denied they had an 'on-going' conflict with Dubussion! This hypocrticial statement, however, had some truth in it inasmuch as the court decision in A-Bs favour effectively put an end to the conflict over the Bush name. The British magazine, 'What's Brewing', ran the story of thiscase on the front page of its July issue. In a sharply worded statement, they wrote: 'American rice-beer brewer and international bully-boy Anheuser-Busch has found a new victim in its campaign of courtroom intimidation. This time the multi-national giant, famed for its relentless and largely fruitless challenge to Budweiser Budvar trademark rights, has turned its guns on the tiny Belgian Dubuisson brewery'. Zythos Also Protested Our organisation, which has as its purpose the defense of Belgian beer
culture, cannot, of course, be silent in this case. Since, it seemed to
us that the decision by the court was final and could not be changed,
we could not let this pass without making our feelings known. So, rather
than sending Dear Mr. Keersmaekers, We are writing you as the importer of beer from the American brewery Anheuser-Busch. At the beginning of last month, the International Arbitration Court in Paris ruled in a case Anheuser-Busch had brought against the Dubuisson brewery of Pipaix. As a result of this ruling, Dubuisson is only allowed to sell its outstanding Bush beer in seven European countries under that name. In all the other countries of the world, Dubuisson is forbidden to use this name because Anheuser-Busch finds it too similar to its own name 'Busch.' Although the proceedings of the court seemed to follow all the required rules, our organisation believes the action of Anheuser-Busch against Dubuisson is out of all proportion and seems completely unrealistic. We hope now to make our protest against this action known. The Anheuser-Busch brewing company produces some 152,000,000 hectoliters of beer per year. By comparison, Dubuisson, makes only 18,000 hectoliters, of which approximately 20 percent (3,600 hectoliters) is destined for export. From these facts, it is clearly difficult to see how the Dubuisson brewery can, in any way, be considered a competitive threat to Anheuser-Busch! Furthermore, let us not forget that, for many years now, Dubuisson has been renaming its exported beer to America as 'Scaldis.' The Dubuisson brewery itself, even with its tiny export volume, wants to take no chance that consumers would confuse its beer with the mass-market Anheuser-Busch products in A-B's home market. Concerning the beers themselves, it is hard for us to imagine that there is a beer lover anywhere in the world who could mistake the 12-percent strong, amber-coloured beer with a prominent taste from Dubuisson with the light, blond, neutral-sweet Anheuser-Busch beer. It would be as if someone could not tell the difference between black and white! In spite of these obvious differences -- the great difference in style
and taste of the beers, as well as the great disparity in production volume
that eliminates any thought of competition -- Anheuser-Busch still found
it necessary to harrass Dubuisson with a legal procedure over the brand
name 'Bush.' It seems to us this bespeaks a nearly paranoid fear and an
egotistical mentality against sharing the throne with anyone -- even a
tiny brewery that no reasonable person would fear. The misuse of Anheuser-Busch's
financial strength and power -- a strength of which a brewery such as
Dubuisson can only dream -- to try to hurt a small brewery can only result
in negative feelings against the large brewery.As an organisation that
has, as its main goal, the defence of the Belgian beer culture, in all
its forms and aspects, we would like to make clear our In light of these events, we can do nothing but bring this matter to
the attention of beer lovers and recommend that they avoid consuming the
beers of Anheuser-Busch. We recognise that, considering the production
volume of the American brewery, our call for a boycott is only a symbolic
act, nevertheless we feel it is necessary. And, while we recognise that
we cannot Reply
Dear Mr. Elsen, We have received and read with great interest your letter of 16 July 2004. We would like to have the letter translated into English and, once we receive it, share it, along with the original, with the European department of Anheuser-Busch. We do regret your call to all beer-lovers to stop consuming Anheuser-Busch beers. Finally, we are not a party to the legal proceedings, however, none of this will prevent us from communicating your position to the Anheuser-Busch brewery. Again, thank you for this information and we remain, Sincerely yours, J.Keersmaekers Director At the time of this writing, we have not yet received a reply from Anheuser-Busch itself. EBCU The European Union of Beer Consumers (EBCU), of which Zythos is a member organisation, is also involved in this case. On 31 July, at the opening of the Great British Beer Festival, a press release was distributed. Among the points raised in it were:
During the Great British Beer Festival a petition will be circulated and the results will be presented to the European Union in September. In the petition, the EU will be asked to take the necessary steps to protect the European brewing tradition. Here, in full, is the text of the petition: 'We the undersigned call up on Anheuser-Busch to respect the diversity
of Europe's independent brewing industryand its long established beer
brands. At the time of this writing, neither the results of the petition drive nor the response of the European Commission were known. Nevertheless, this is an issue that, in any case, deserves continued attention. Casimir Elsen (August 2004) |
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
|
Geuzeproblemen
