A European Union court has decided that Budweiser-brewer Anheuser-Busch should not have rights to the "Bud" brand throughout the 27 nation bloc. It is a victory for the Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar, which said it had registered the name in France, Austria and former Czechoslovakia in 1958. Anheuser will now have to rely on registering its trademark in each individual member state. It said it already had trademark protection in 23 of the EU states. It is the latest stage of a long-running trademark dispute between the two brewers. 

Scottish & Newcastle has come in for criticism from trade union Unite following the announcement that more than 50 jobs are to go at its cider subsidiary Bulmers. S&N, which was acquired earlier this year in a £7.8bn joint deal with brewing giants Heineken and Carlsberg, is closing its Bulmers bottling line in Hereford, with 54 staff set to be axed from a total workforce of around 350. Production will be shifted to S&N’s Tadcaster facility in the northwest.

India’s United Breweries Holdings is considering bidding for the UK assets of Cobra Beer, the Economic Times reports, citing UB Group Chairman Vijay Mallya. Other companies in the race to acquire Cobra Beer's assets are Calsberg, Molson Coors, and SABMiller, the report said.

A Lancashire brewery has announced plans to build a new £3.5m brewing complex to triple its production to 900 barrels a week. Moorhouse's, the North West's biggest cask ale brewer which has six pubs across the region, will start work in the new year on the 5,000 sq ft facility which will include a new brewhouse, warehouse, training school and investment centre. It is hoped that the new complex will be completed by the end of 2009.  

An agreement has been reached between the Wine and Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) and the local authorities' co-ordinating body to try and minimise costs for wine makers. The WSTA said that some Southern Hemisphere manufacturers may have had to pay out thousands of extra pounds because of a change to European Union allergen labelling rules. From the end of May 2009, egg and milk content will have to be referenced on labels, but the WSTA argued this deadline will clash with the harvest in the Southern Hemisphere. And because of a possible change to this date, from the European Commission, many manufacturers could have to label bottles twice, it added.

Derek Andrew has topped up his holding in Marston's following the brewer and pub group's interim results a week ago. Andrew, managing director of Marston's Inns and Taverns, spent £53,460 on 45,000 shares purchased at 118.80p each.

Cobra Beer, the Indian-themed lager brand that is up for sale, is prepared to split its UK and Indian businesses and sell them to separate buyers as Lord Bilimoria, its founder, seeks £185m for the group. Lord Bilimoria, who owns about two-thirds of Cobra, is selling the brand after Diageo showed interest during the summer. Cobra Beer is circulating a sales memorandum to potential buyers, declaring its willingness to split its UK and Indian businesses.