Government urges Heineken to resolve trademark dispute with Csíki Brewery through talks

Budapest, March 24 (MTI) – The Hungarian government urges Heineken to resolve its trademark dispute with the ethnic Hungarian Csíki Brewery in Romania through talks, government office chief János Lázár said after visiting the brewery in Sansimion (Csíkszentsimon) in central Romania.

He expressed hope that an agreement could be reached within a month in the dispute which he described as “David fighting Goliath”.

Hungarian government representatives held talks with Heineken’s management in Hungary and with the Dutch ambassador in Budapest and asked them to help find solution to the beer dispute, Lázár said. The government acknowledges and respects the fact that Heineken employs many Hungarians in Hungary as well as in Transylvania and pays a significant amount of tax, he added.

“As a result, we ask the Heineken group to follow the pinciple of live and let live,” Lázár said.

However, he added in response to a question that “in case Heineken refuses to cooperate and … cotinues to want to trample on Igazi Csíki Beer, then there are several tools in the government’s hands and we are ready to use them in the protection of Hungarian national interests.”