Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2014:76
Date: 2014-02-13
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful

Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 13 February 2014 — Demon International v OHIM — Big Line (DEMON) (Case T‑380/12) Community trade mark — Invalidity proceedings — Figurative Community trade mark DEMON — Prior international word mark DEMON — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Similarity of the goods — Similarity of the signs — Article 8(1)(b) and Article 53(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 1. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community 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 27, 28, 60) 2. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community 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 between the goods or services in question — Criteria for assessment — Complementary nature of the goods or services (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 36, 37, 41) 3. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community 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 — Complex mark (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 48, 52-54) 4. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community 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 DEMON and word mark DEMON (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 64, 66-68) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of OHIM of 20 June 2012 (Case R 1845/2011-4) concerning invalidity proceedings between Demon International, LC and Big Line Sas di Graziani Lorenzo. Operative part The Court: 1. Annuls the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) of 20 June 2012 (Case R 1845/2001-4) in so far as it annulled in part the decision of the Cancellation Division and rejected the application for a declaration of invalidity of the Community trade mark No 6 375 398 concerning ‘ski masks’ and ‘snowboard masks’; 2. Dismisses the remainder of the action; 3. Orders Demon International, LC and Big Line Sas di Graziani Lorenzo to bear their own costs, including those incurred before the Board of Appeal; 4. Orders OHIM to bear its own costs.