Bud Light taken to court over Spuds MacKenzie Super Bowl spot

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Every dog will have his day — and Spuds MacKenzie may soon have his in federal court.

The hard-partying bull terrier has landed in the lap of a legal tussle after Bud Light featured him in a Super Bowl commercial Feb. 5 — despite the fact that another company now claims to own the trademarks for the boozy pooch.

A firm called Spuds Ventures LLC alleges in a suit filed Wednesday that it won the trademarks for Spuds MacKenzie’s name and likeness on Jan. 24 — 12 days before the hops-loving hound reappeared, after an 18-year hiatus, in a spot in this year’s big game.

The spot, called “Ghost Spuds,” cast the terrier in an angelic role, with his floating, spectral form advising a down-and-out beer drinker, borrowing from “A Christmas Carol” and “It’s a Wonderful Life.”

Spuds Ventures — a firm whose owner Mark Thomann claims to have “revitalized” discarded brands like Brim coffee and Nuprin cold medicine — applied for the Spuds MacKenzie trademark last August for use in “bar services; beer garden services; pubs” and other beer-related enterprises, according to the suit.

A spokesperson for Bud Light owner Anheuser-Busch countered Thursday that Spuds Ventures registered its trademarks only for “pet dietary supplements and grooming supplies” and made it clear this “brew-haha” isn’t the kind to be settled over a beer.

“We believe the lawsuit is without merit and intend to vigorously defend against it,” Anheuser-Busch told The Post.

Spuds Ventures alleges that Anheuser-Busch failed to oppose Thomann’s application until its “conduct had already done irreparable harm,” according to the suit — namely by featuring Spuds in the most recent Super Bowl spot, the fourth-most-watched TV event of all time.

“The defendants did not seek or receive approval from, pay any royalties to or receive any license from the plaintiff to use the plaintiff’s trademarks before, during, or after their television commercial was widely broadcast and posted on the Internet,” Spuds Ventures complains in the suit, which was filed in the US Southern District of New York.

After the dog debuted in a Bud Light Super Bowl ad in 1987, concerns quickly cropped up that he promoted underage drinking. He was retired in 1989.

Spuds was then so neglected, the suit claims, that Anheuser-Busch failed to file declarations of his use with the US Patent and Trademark Office.

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