Information;Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2024:827
Date: 2024-11-13
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Eighth Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court of 13 November 2024 – Aesculap v EUIPO – Aeneas (AESKUCARE Food Intolerance, AESKUCARE and AESKUCARE Allergy) (Joined Cases T-64/23 to T-66/23) 1 (EU trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Applications for EU figurative marks AESKUCARE Food Intolerance and AESKUCARE Allergy and EU word mark AESKUCARE – Earlier EU and national word marks AESCULAP – Relative ground for refusal – Damage to reputation – Article 8(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 – Cross-claims) Language of the case: German Parties Applicant: Aesculap AG (Tuttlingen, Germany) (represented by: K. Schmidt-Hern, lawyer) Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: A. Ringelhann and T. Klee, acting as Agents) Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court in Cases T-64/23 to T-66/23: Aeneas GmbH & Co. KG (Wendelsheim, Germany) (represented by: L. Ludwig and I. Jung, lawyers) Re: By its actions under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the partial annulment of the decisions of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 12 November 2022 (Case R 18/2022-2), of 23 November 2022 (Case R 20/2022-2) and of 29 November 2022 (Case R 21/2022-2). Operative part of the judgment The Court: 1. Annuls the decisions of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 12 November 2022 (Case R 18/2022-2), of 23 November 2022 (Case R 20/2022-2) and of 29 November 2022 (Case R 21/2022-2) in so far as they annulled the decisions of the Opposition Division of 30 November 2021 and rejected the oppositions in respect of the goods and services in Classes 5, 42 and 44 of the Nice Agreement Concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks of 15 June 1957, as revised and amended; 2. Dismisses the cross-claims; 3. In respect of the main actions, orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Aesculap AG, and orders Aeneas GmbH & Co. KG to bear its own costs; 4. In respect of the cross-claims, orders Aeneas to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Aesculap and EUIPO; 5. Orders Aeneas to pay the costs necessarily incurred by Aesculap for the purposes of the proceedings before the Board of Appeal in Cases R 18/2022-2, R 20/2022-2 and R 21/2022-2. ____________ 1 OJ C 112, 27.3.2023.