Judgment — ECLI:EU:C:2014:2234
Date: 2014-09-18
Language of the case: Italian
Court formation: Seventh Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment;Appeal - unfounded
Origin: Italy

Judgment of the Court (Seventh Chamber) of 18 September 2014 — Società Italiana Calzature v OHIM (Joined Cases C‑308/13 P and C‑309/13 P)1(1) Appeals — Community trade marks — Regulation (EC) No 40/94 — Registration of figurative marks containing the word elements ‘GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI DESIGN’ and ‘BY GIUSEPPE ZANOTTI’ — Opposition by the proprietor of word and figurative, national and community trade marks containing the word element ‘ZANOTTI’ — Opposition dismissed by the Board of Appeal 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 40/94, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 40, 41, 52) 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 of the marks concerned — Criteria for assessment — Composite mark (Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 42, 43, 47, 59, 64) 3. Appeals — Grounds — Plea directed against a superfluous ground — Invalid plea in law — Rejection (see para. 49) 4. Appeals — Grounds — Plea submitted for the first time in the context of the appeal — Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 170(1)) (see para. 50) 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 — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment — Earlier mark which plays a distinctive independent role within the mark applied for (Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 60-62) Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the appeals; 2. Orders Società Italiana Calzature SpA to pay the costs. 1 – OJ C 233, 10.8.2013.