Order — ECLI:EU:T:2016:627
Date: 2016-10-18
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: France

Order of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 18 October 2016 — Laboratoire de la mer v EUIPO — Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma (RESPIMER) (Case T‑109/16) (EU trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for EU word mark RESPIMER — Earlier EU word mark RESPIMAT — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Action manifestly lacking any foundation in law) 1. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Assessment of the registrability of a sign — EU rules only taken into account — Decisions of national authorities not binding EU bodies (Council Regulation No 207/2009) (see para. 19) 2. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU 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 RESPIMER and RESPIMAT (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 24, 26, 27, 37-41, 46, 47) 3. EU trade mark — Appeals procedure — Action before the EU judicature — Application initiating proceedings — Formal requirements — Pleas in law not set out in the application — General reference to other documents — Inadmissibility (Rules of Procedure of the General Court, Art. 76(d)) (see para. 28) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 21 January 2016 (Case R 3109/2014-5), relating to opposition proceedings between Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma and Laboratoire de la mer. Operative part 1. The action is dismissed. 2. Laboratoire de la mer is ordered to pay the costs.