Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2018:4
Date: 2018-01-16
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Third Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded

Judgment of the General Court of 16 January 2018 — Starbucks v EUIPO — Nersesyan (COFFEE ROCKS) (Case T-398/16) 1 (EU trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for the EU figurative mark COFFEE ROCKS — Earlier EU figurative marks STARBUCKS COFFEE — Relative ground for refusal — Similarity of the signs — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001) — Article 8(5) of Regulation No 207/2009 (now Article 8(5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001)) Language of the case: English Parties Applicant: Starbucks Corp. (Seattle, Washington, United States) (represented by: J. Schmitt, lawyer, and I. Fowler, Solicitor) Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: J. Crespo Carrillo and A. Kusturovic, acting as Agents) Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO: Hasmik Nersesyan (Borgloon, Belgium) Re: Action brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 24 May 2016 (Case R 559/2015-4), relating to opposition proceedings between Starbucks Corp. and Ms Hasmik Nersesyan. Operative part of the judgment The Court: 1. Annuls the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 24 May 2016 (Case R 559/2015-4); 2. Orders EUIPO to pay the costs. ____________ 1 OJ C 335, 12.9.2016.