Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2016:418
Date: 2016-07-19
Language of the case: English
Court formation: Sixth Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded;Action for annulment - successful
Origin: Germany

Summary — Judgment of the General Court (Sixth Chamber), 19 July 2016 1. EU trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Relative grounds for invalidity — Existence of an identical or similar earlier mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Arts 8(1)(b), and 53(1)(a)) 2. EU trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Relative grounds for invalidity — Existence of an identical or similar earlier mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Assessment of the likelihood of confusion — Determination of the relevant public — Attention level of the public (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Arts 8(1)(b), and 53(1)(a)) 3. EU trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Relative grounds for invalidity — Existence of an identical or similar earlier mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity between the goods or services in question — Criteria for assessment — Finished product — Definition (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Arts 8(1)(b), and 53(1)(a)) 1. See the text of the decision. (see paras 41, 42) 2. See the text of the decision. (see paras 43, 44) 3. The fact that a product is described as being a finished product does not mean it may not be used in industry as an ingredient, raw material or component in the manufacture of another product. A finished product means a product which is ready to be marketed. The description can therefore be applied to products marketed to industry. Moreover, even if that description is used in a narrower sense, to distinguish manufactured goods from unprocessed raw materials, a manufactured product may constitute an ingredient, raw material or component of another manufactured product. (see para. 51)