Judgment — ECLI:EU:T:2017:341
Date: 2017-05-16
Language of the case: German
Court formation: Third Chamber
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment - unfounded
Origin: Germany

Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 16 May 2017 — Marsh v EUIPO (LegalPro) (Case T‑472/16) (EU trade mark — Application for the EU word mark LegalPro — Absolute ground for refusal — Descriptiveness — Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009) 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 para. 13) 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 — Concept (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see paras 14, 15, 25, 26) 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 — Concept — Mark composed of a word or neologism resulting from a combination of elements (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see para. 16) 4. EU trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the EU trade mark — Absolute grounds for refusal — Marks devoid of any distinctive character — Word mark LegalPro (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 7(1)(c)) (see paras 28, 39, 43) 5. EU trade mark — Decisions of the Office — Legality — Examination by the EU judicature — Criteria (Council Regulation No 207/2009) (see para. 31) 6. EU trade mark — Decisions of the Office — Principle of equal treatment — Principle of sound administration — EUIPO’s previous decision-making practice (Council Regulation No 207/2009) (see para. 32) Re: ACTION brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 17 June 2016 (Case R 146/2016-4) concerning the application for registration of the word sign LegalPro as an EU trade mark. Operative part The Court: 1. Dismisses the action; 2. Orders Marsh GmbH to pay the costs.