Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2013:456
Date: 2013-09-16
Language of the case: English
Court formation: First Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful
Origin: United Kingdom

Judgment of the General Court of 16 September 2013 – Golden Balls Ltd v OHIM – Intra-Presse (GOLDEN BALLS) (Case T-448/11) 1 (Community trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Application for Community word mark GOLDEN BALLS – Earlier Community word mark BALLON D’OR – Similarity of the signs – Likelihood of confusion – Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 – Application for annulment filed by the intervener – Article 134(3) of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court – Scope of the examination to be carried out by the Board of Appeal – Obligation to rule on the entirety of the action – Articles 8(5), 64(1) and 76(1) of Regulation No 207/2009) Language of the case: English Parties Applicant: Golden Balls Ltd (London, United Kingdom) (represented by: M. Edenborough QC, and S. Smith, Solicitor) Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: A. Folliard-Monguiral, acting as Agent) Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM: Intra-Presse (Boulogne-Billancourt, France) (P. Péters, T. de Haan and M. Laborde, lawyers) Re: Application for annulment of the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 22 June 2011 (R 1432/2010-1) relating to opposition proceedings between Intra-Presse and Golden Balls Ltd. Operative part of the judgment The Court: 1. Annuls point 1 of the operative part of the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) of 22 June 2011 (Case R 1432/2010 1); 2. Rejects the application for annulment submitted by Intra-Presse; 3. Orders OHIM to bear, in addition to its own costs, those incurred by Golden Balls Ltd, with the exception of the latter’s costs concerning the application for annulment based on Article 134(3) of the Rules of Procedure; 4. Orders Intra-Presse to bear, in addition to its own costs, those incurred by Golden Balls Ltd concerning the application for annulment based on Article 134(3) of the Rules of Procedure. ____________ ____________ 1 OJ C 298, 8.10.2011.