Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2018:304
Date: 2018-05-28
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber) of 28 May 2018 – Item Industrietechnik v EUIPO (EFUSE) (Case T‑427/17) (EU trade mark — Application for EU word mark EFUSE — Absolute ground for refusal — Descriptive character — Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001)) 1. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service — Aim — Need to preserve availability (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see paras 15, 30) 2. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service — Criteria (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see paras 16-18) 3. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service — Word mark EFUSE (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see paras 22-26, 28, 29, 33) 4. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks composed exclusively of signs or indications capable of designating the characteristics of a product or service — Meaning — Neologism consisting of elements descriptive of characteristics of the goods or services concerned — Whether included where the nature of the combination is not unusual (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see para. 27) Re: Action brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 18 April 2017 (Case R 1882/2016-4), concerning an application for registration of the word sign EFUSE as an EU trade mark. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Item Industrietechnik GmbH to pay the costs.