Information;Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2021:69
Date: 2021-02-10
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Second Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Germany

Summary of the pleas in law on which the application is based (Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 21, first para. and 53, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 177(1)(d)) (see para. 26) 2. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service – Aim – Need to preserve availability (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(c) and 51(1)(a)) (see para. 36) 3. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service – Concept (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(c) and 51(1)(a)) (see paras 37, 70) 4. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service – Assessment of the descriptive nature of a sign – Criteria – Perception of the trade mark by the relevant public – Attention level of the public (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(c) and 51(1)(a)) (see paras 38, 40, 44, 46, 56, 57) 5. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service – Word mark medical beauty research (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(c) and 51(1)(a)) (see paras 60, 65-67, 78, 85, 87-95) 6. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Registration contrary to Article 7 of Regulation No 40/94 – Relevant date for the examination of an absolute ground for nullity – Date of lodging the application for registration (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1) and 51(1)(a)) (see paras 72, 73) 7. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Overlap of the scope of the grounds set out in Article 7(1)(b) and Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation No 40/94 (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(b) and (c) and 51(1)(a)) (see para. 99) 8. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks devoid of distinctive character – Word mark medical beauty research (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(b) and 51(1)(a)) (see paras 101, 107, 108) 9. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks devoid of distinctive character – Concept – Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(b) and 51(1)(a)) (see paras 104, 105) 10. EU trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Absolute grounds for invalidity – Marks devoid of distinctive character – Marks consisting of advertising slogans – Slogan conveying an objective message (Council Regulation No 40/94, Arts 7(1)(b) and 51(1)(a)) (see para. 106) Re: Action brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 8 November 2019 (Case R 114/2019-2) relating to invalidity proceedings between Laubender and Biochange Group. Operative part The Court: 1. Annuls the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 8 November 2019 (Case R 114/2019-2) as regards ‘baby food’ in Class 5 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 action as to the remainder; 3. Orders Biochange Group GmbH, EUIPO and mysuperbrand GmbH each to bear their own costs.