Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2013:636
Date: 2013-12-11
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 11 December 2013 — Smartbook v OHIM (SMARTBOOK) (Case T‑123/12) Community trade mark — Application for Community word mark SMARTBOOK — Absolute ground for refusal — Lack of distinctiveness — Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 1. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks devoid of any distinctive character — Concept (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(b)) (see paras 37, 38) 2. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Overlap between the scope of the grounds for refusal set out in subparagraphs (b) and (c) of Article 7(1) of Regulation No 207/2009 (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(b) and (c)) (see paras 39, 40) 3. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks devoid of any distinctive character — Word mark SMARTBOOK (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(b)) (see paras 42-52) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of OHIM of 15 December 2011 (Case R 799/2011-2), concerning an application for registration of the word sign SMARTBOOK as a Community trade mark. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Smartbook AG to pay the costs.