mdwh said:
Does anyone know what the situation is currently?
I remember reading the story not so long ago.
I (someone at least) might need to look further into it, but the way I've seen it explained is:
Down in old Bohemia, Budvar region, they have brewed this lager type beer thay call "Budweiser" (a "white one from Bud") since before America was discovered.
Strangely enough

no one ever figured they'd need to copyright this local speciality in accordance with US laws.
Back in the late 19th c. some emigrant from this region started brewing and selling "Budweiser" in the US. Still no copyright problems. But then, sometime in the 30's or so, Anhauser-Busch bought up this local brewery and its "Budweiser" beer (possibly in the process subjecting the original Czech-style beer to cruel and unnatural procedures to create the "lovemaking-in-a-canoe" beverage it now peddles.)
At this point, still no copyright controversy, as everyone was busy first with WWII and later the cold war, and the Czech safely tucked away behind the Iron Curtain.
Problems only started when the Czech suddenly rejoined the Western in 1989, along with this beer they called Budweiser, which they had been breweing for like "always".
That's when Anhauser-Busch brought the Czech brewery to court.
The settlement seems to be that Anhauser-Busch has world rights to the name "Budweiser" and is allowed to market it anywhere in the world.
The Czech's are allowed to sell their beer under the albel of "Budweiser Budvar" and they are under no circumstances allowed to try to market it in the US.
So the Yanks are safely protected from the horrors of drinking real beer, compliments of the Anhauser-Busch corporation.

