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Heineken lost Csik beer lawsuit
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Heineken lost lawsuit against Csiki Beer Manufactury due to the production of Real Csiki Beer at second instance too. The final judgment of the Court of Suceava County rejected the application of the multinational company and ordered the plaintiff to pay legal costs, szekelyhon.ro says.
Last year, Heineken sued the owner of Csikszentsimon brewery also producing the Real Csiki Sor, Andras Lenard entrepreneur, on charges of infringements of intellectual property, disloyal competition and unfair trade activities.
According to the Dutch brewer, the new product name is very similar to the name of Ciuc Premium beer, which is bottled in the Csikszereda plant of the company. Heineken tried to reach by a Presidential Decree to close down the beer production in Csikszentsimon immediately.
Harghita County Tribunal rejected the applicant’s claim in December, and the appeal was on the agenda of the Marosvasrhely Court. However, Supreme Court moved the lawsuit to Suceava, because the multinational company thought the press coverage of the its lawsuit against Csiki Beer Manufactory and the “fame and symphaty surrounding” Andras Lenard would influence the objectivity and impartiality of the judges of the Marosvasarhely Court.
According to szekelyhon.hu, Suceava County Tribunal dismissed the appeal of Heineken in its Wednesday judgement, and ordered the applicant to pay by virtue legal costs 8951 leis to the defendant Lixid Project Ltd. and 2775 leis to Andras Lenard. Rodica Neagu Dumitrescu court spokesman said that according to the new Civil Litigation proceedings the final judgment cannot be appealed.
Gabor Hajdu, lawyer of Csiki Beer Manufactory said that this conflict unleashed by Heineken has not yet been finalized; the company is also attacking on other fronts the Szekelyföld company.
Heineken made a great product at one time. (in my opinion). But the quality of their product has lessened. As of now because of this I will no longer consider any of their products. I live in the USA and believe Heineken has changed their recipe to attract the American mass beer drinker. American mass beer was turned into a watered down, slightly alcoholic mess a generation ago and it took years for a craft industry to develop. Now the mass brewers are in decline and will attack any small brewer it can to attempt to hold on to it’s market share. It will be a good day when Heineken goes out of business. Crap beer.
Heineken has proved that they do not care about people and traditions; they just want a high profit. They want to destroy a small beer manufacturer in an area of Romania where a large Hungarian minority lives because a very small brewery is able to beat them with a beer that supports traditions and local heritage. Heineken has started a lawsuit in order to stop the production of Igazi Csíki Sör (the new local beer). They claim that the name of their beer called CIUC PREMIUM has been stolen and used unduly by IGAZI CSÍKI SÖR. Can you see the similarity? Oh, of course not. Even if they claim that CSÍKI is the translated version of CIUC, which is completely wrong. Local people have a sense of justice, pride and persistence, so they have started a boycott against Heineken. The point of this action is to avoid everything that is a Heineken product. Many people have felt that they have to join this action, even from Hungary. I believe Heineken has been experiencing a large decrease in sales, especially in this Hungarian area (Szeklerland), as a result of their lawsuit. As a result, they have been putting even more pressure on the manufacturer and are pushing the court to make a decision favourable to them. I encourage everyone who feels that this is an injustice NOT TO BUY, DRINK OR PROMOTE HEINEKEN PRODUCTS! Long live integrity, fairness and justice!