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In more business news, financial daily E15 reports that Monday was the deadline for potential investors to voice an interest in Czech brewery Staropramen. Staropramen has been put on the market by Anheuser-Busch InBev alongside the conglomerate’s other central and eastern European ventures to help pay off debts of nearly 45 billion USD. The brewer has said it hopes to receive 2.6 billion USD through the sale of its central and eastern European businesses, while analysts suggest that its enterprises in the region are worth considerably less than that, something closer to 2 billion USD. It has not been revealed just who is interested in the purchase of Staropramen, but there is speculation that private equity funds such as CVC Capital Partners and TPG have put in a bid. Staropramen is the second biggest beer-producer in the Czech Republic.

In Business News this week: speculation soars over Staropramen bid; emissions handout sparks controversy; Czech financial sector gets positive health check; and Aero Vodochody profits take off.

In Business News this week: foreign investment eases; complications hit Budvar sale preparations; bankruptcies hit a five year high; the auto sector earns less for more; and the Finance Ministry sees no role for film perks.

In Business News this week: the Central Bank says it may cut interest rates further, the Czech Republic’s fourth biggest beer producer Budějovický Budvar is bringing out an 11 percent brew and hobby markets in the Czech Republic are doing good business despite the crisis.

Znojmo beer has been given protected status by the European Commission. The Commission announced in Brussels on Thursday that the beer had been given protected geographical indication status, meaning that nowhere from outside the area can use the name. The application for the special status was made several years ago and continued when the Brno-based brewery Starobrno was bought by multinational brewing giant Heineken. But it is not yet clear if the brewer will relaunch the mark. Around 850 products have so far been awarded geographical protection across Europe.

A Czech jeweller has created a replica of the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire, a team of enthusiasts is building a miniaturized model of a town which was razed to the ground to make way for coal mining and, a group of Czechs have held a non-stop reading of the entire Lisbon treaty to prove that it is readable. Find out more in Magazine with Daniela Lazarová.

The head of the Czech Beer and Malt Association has revealed that more than half of the country’s breweries are interested in using the “Czech Beer” trademark, approved last year by the European Commission. The news was released on Tuesday by the head of the Czech Beer and Malt Association Jan Veselý, who said the trademark would help Czech firms on foreign markets. Basic requirements to acquire the label include meeting set standards of quality, producing domestically and using traditional ingredients and technology. Permission to use the label is provided by the Czech Agriculture and Food Inspection Authority.

In Business News this week, Škoda Auto looks to Saturday working; foreign workers’ visa freeze; Prague airport privatisation problems; Czech agriculture’s new master; hiring and firing dismissal overhaul still on course; and the developing taste for non-alcoholic beer.

An EU court has backed Czech state-owned brewery Budějovický Budvar in its long-running trademark battle with US beer giant Anheuser-Busch. The Luxembourg-based European Court of First Instance threw out an appeal made by Anheuser-Busch against an earlier decision preventing it from registering the Budweiser trademark in the EU saying the Czech brewer already had rights to use the description in Germany and Austria. The two companies have been waging a trademark war over the right to use the “budweiser” name for over 100 years. Anheuser-Busch can still appeal to the EU’s highest court.

Exports of Czech beer rose to 3.7 million hectolitres in 2008, which was some 100,000 hectolitres more than in the previous year, according to estimates by the Czech Beer and Malt Association. The total production in the same period decreased however by some 100,000 hectolitres to 19.8 million hectolitres. Exports of the largest Czech brewery, Pislner Urquell, were up by more than four percent last year.