Opinion of the Advocate General — ECLI:EU:C:2004:109
Date: 2004-02-19
Language of the case: German
Based on: Treaty establishing the European Economic Community (1957)
Subject matter: Trade marks;Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
Procedure: Action for annulment;Appeal - decision unnecessary
Origin: Germany

Summary of the Order Community trade mark – Review procedures – Appeal brought by the Office against a judgment of the Court of First Instance annulling the decision of a Board of Appeal which refused to register a sign as a Community trade mark – Withdrawal of the application for registration in the course of the proceedings – Dispute brought to an end – No need to adjudicate (Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 63) In an appeal against a judgment of the Court of First Instance which annulled the decision of a Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) refusing to register a sign as a Community trade mark, the withdrawal of the application for registration after delivery of the Advocate General’s Opinion does not render the appeal entirely devoid of purpose, since that withdrawal does not, in itself, have any impact on the judgment under appeal. However, the withdrawal has the effect of bringing to an end the dispute concerning the refusal of registration of the sign in question as a Community trade mark, in so far as the parties coincide in the view that the dispute is now settled and in so far as the Office considers, in particular, that the withdrawal of the application for registration is ‘valid’ and considers that its claim for the judgment under appeal to be set aside no longer has any purpose. In those circumstances, it is no longer necessary to give judgment in the appeal. (see paras 10-13, operative part)