Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2016:116
Date: 2016-03-01
Language of the case: German
Court formation: First Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court (First Chamber) of 1 March 2016 — BrandGroup v OHIM — Brauerei S. Riegele, Inh. Riegele (SPEZOOMIX) (Case T‑557/14) Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for Community word mark SPEZOOMIX — Earlier Community word mark Spezi — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 1. Community trade mark — Appeals procedure — Action before the EU judicature — Jurisdiction of the General Court — Review of the lawfulness of decisions of the Boards of Appeal — Account taken by the General Court of matters of law and fact which have not been raised previously before the departments of OHIM — Not included (Rules of Procedure of the General Court (1991), Art. 135(4); Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 65(2)) (see para. 15) 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 21, 22, 55) 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 — Word marks SPEZOOMIX and Spezi (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 23-27, 58, 59, 65) 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 of the marks concerned — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 28, 29, 45) 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 — Similarity of the marks concerned — Assessment of the distinctiveness of an element composing a trade mark (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 33, 36, 38) 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 — Weak distinctive character of the earlier mark — Effect (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 61) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 15 May 2014 (Case R 941/2013-1), concerning opposition proceedings between Brauerei S. Riegele, Inh. Riegele KG and BrandGroup GmbH. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders BrandGroup GmbH to pay the costs.