Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2017:314
Date: 2017-05-05
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Third Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 5 May 2017 — Messe Friedrichshafen v EUIPO — El Corte Inglés (Out Door) (Case T‑224/16) (EU trade mark — Opposition proceedings — EU figurative mark Out Door — Earlier EU word mark OUTDOOR PRO — Relative ground for refusal — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Article 76 of Regulation No 207/2009) 1. EU trade mark — Observations of third parties and opposition — Examination of the opposition — Scope — Relative grounds for refusal, excluding absolute grounds raised in observations of third parties (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Arts 7, 8, 41 and 42) (see paras 21, 22) 2. EU trade mark — Procedural provisions — Examination of the facts of the Office’s own motion — Opposition proceedings — Examination restricted to the submissions of the parties (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 76(1)) (see para. 23) 3. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 31, 32, 48) 4. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Figurative mark Out Door and word mark OUTDOOR PRO (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 34, 38, 65) 5. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Assessment of the likelihood of confusion — Attention level of the public (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 35) 6. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 39, 40) 7. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Coexistence of earlier marks on the market — Effect (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 55) 8. EU trade mark — Lodging of application for EU trade mark — Right of priority — Trade mark application accompanied by a claim for priority — Examination of the formal and substantive conditions by OHIM (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 29) (see para. 58) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 8 February 2016 (Case R 2302/2011-2), relating to opposition proceedings between El Corte Inglés and Messe Friedrichshafen. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Messe Friedrichshafen GmbH to pay the costs.