Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2015:883
Date: 2015-11-25
Language of the case: French
Court formation: Fifth Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: France

Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 25 November 2015 — Soprema v OHIM — Sopro Bauchemie (SOPRAPUR) (Case T‑763/14) Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — International registration designating the European Community — Word mark SOPRAPUR — Prior Community word mark Sopro — Relative ground for refusal — Similarity of the goods and the signs — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 1. Community trade mark — Procedural provisions — Statement of reasons for decisions — Article 75, first sentence, of Regulation No 207/2009 — Scope identical to that of Article 296 TFEU (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 75, first sentence) (see paras 20, 21) 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 — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 30, 68, 77) 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 — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Assessment of the likelihood of confusion — Determination of the relevant public — Attention level of the public (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 31, 34) 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 — Similarity between the goods or services in question — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 35) 5. 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 (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 40, 47, 54, 55) 6. 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 — Word marks SOPRAPUR and Sopro (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 74) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of OHIM of 14 August 2014 (Case R 1370/2013-2) concerning opposition proceedings between Sopro Bauchemie GmbH and Holding Soprema. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Holding Soprema to pay the costs.