Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2003:408
Date: 2003-07-10
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Intellectual, industrial and commercial property;Approximation of laws
Procedure: Reference for a preliminary ruling
Origin: Germany

SUMMARY — CASE C-100/02 
Summary of the Judgment 
Approximation of laws — Trademarks — Directive 89/104 — Limitation of the effects 
of a trade mark — Right of the proprietor of a trade mark to prevent the use by a third 
party of an indication of geographical origin entailing a likelihood of confusion with the 
trade mark — Condition — Use not in accordance with honest practices in industrial or 
commercial matters — To be determined by the national court 
(Council Directive 89/104, Arts 5(1)(b) and 6(1) (b)) 
Article 6(1)(b) of First Directive 89/104 to 
approximate the laws of the Member States 
relating to trade marks is to be interpreted 
as meaning that, where there exists a 
likelihood of aural confusion between a 
word mark registered in one Member State 
and an indication, in the course of trade, of 
the geographical origin of a product orig­
inating in another Member State, the 
proprietor of the trade mark may, pursuant 
to Article 5 of the directive, prevent the use 
of the indication of geographical origin 
only if that use is not in accordance with 
honest practices in industrial or commercial 
matters. 
In that connection, it is for the national 
court to carry out an overall assessment of 
all the relevant circumstances. Where the 
trade mark and indication of geographical 
origin are used for the marketing of bottled 
drinks, the circumstances to be taken into 
account by that court would include in 
particular the shape and labelling of the 
bottle in order to assess, more particularly, 
whether the producer of the drink bearing 
the indication of geographical origin might 
be regarded as unfairly competing with the 
proprietor of the trade mark. 
(see paras 26-27, operative part) 
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