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In this week’s Business News: sharp hike in VAT floated; electricity bills seen rising by as much as 17 percent; Škoda Auto outlines ‘green’ plans; first half beer demand dips; and betting company announces stock exchange debut.

I don’t know what it is about the area where my wife, my son, and I live in the Czech capital that it can’t have a decent pub. Crazy as it may sound, it’s true: the establishment closest to our home, and there’s only one, is lousy. I’m not even a big pub-goer - but I wouldn’t mind going once in a while if I could.

In this week’s Business News: Czech economic growth on steady course; ministries scramble against solar power impact; telecoms giant under shadow of competition office suspicion; landlords look to double rents; and beer “museum” seeks to showcase small brewers.

The Sun in a Glass festival is expecting to host more microbreweries in one place than ever before, with 43 registered so far. 150 different beers will be presented at the festival, which begins September 18 at the Purkmistr restaurant in Plzeň Téměř. Organisers say the majority of the brewers will be small restaurants and publicans producing 200 to 1000 hectolitres a year. Each will present three or four types of beer. Two larger breweries and three Bavarian microbreweries will also be attending.

Nearly 42 percent of Czech pubs and restaurants are cheating customers by charging them for half-litre beers that do not actually amount to a full half litre, according to a survey conducted by a group called the Consumers Defence Association. It measured the amount of beer served in half-litre glasses in 65 hostelries around the country. In most cases, the study’s authors said, bar staff were willing to top up drinks when a shortfall was pointed out.

The Czech brewery Plzeňský Prazdroj is planning to reduce its usage of drinking water by a third by the year 2015. According to a spokesman, the company wants to cut the amount of water used in the production of a liter of beer from 4.3 liters down to 3.5 liters. Long-term, Plzeňský Prazdroj is aiming to use only three liters of water for the production of one liter of beer. The company is planning to achieve water savings without the use of special technology. It has been cutting its use of water since the late 20th century, when an average of ten liters of water was needed for the production of one liter of beer.

The European Court of Justice has ruled that Anheuser-Busch InBev may not register “Budweiser” as an EU-wide trademark, ending a long legal dispute with the Czech state-owned brewer Budějovický Budvar. Anheuser-Busch applied for trademark registration in the EU in 1996, but was opposed by Budvar, which already had protection for its own Budweiser beer in Germany and Austria. Thursday’s ruling upheld a previous decision by Europe’s second highest court last year. It does not prevent Anheuser-Busch from registering the name Budweiser in individual markets. The two sides have been fighting over the brand name in courts around the world for decades.

Budweiser means from Budweis, the German name for the city of České Budějovicke, which has a brewing tradition stretching back to the 13th century. Anheuser-Busch began making its own Budweiser in 1876.

The Czech brewer Budějovický Budvar scored a major victory on Thursday when the top European Court ruled that global rival Anheuser-Busch InBev could not register the Budweiser name as a EU-wide trademark. The decision brought to an end a 14-year-long legal dispute, meaning that Budějovický Budvar will not have to fear that its own trademarks in 19 European countries could be challenged. In Great Britain the Budweiser name, for example, is used both by Budvar and Anheuser-Busch, but in Germany only Budvar has rights to the brand.

In this week’s Business News: a big win for Budweiser - the Czech one, that is; the new labour minister wants to toughen up on non-EU workers; the state forestry company sees big profits for the first half of 2010; ČEZ finally wants done with its Chvaletice power plant; and the antimonopoly office owes interest to Shell for imposing illegitimate fines.

In Business News this week: first half budget figures offer some relief, gas sector competition steps up, lower sales but higher profits for state brewer, milk automats go mobile, and motorcycle taxi service stalled at start.