Judgment of the General Court (Seventh Chamber) of 18 September 2015 —
Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia v OHIM — Accelerate (COLOMBIANO COFFEE HOUSE)
(Case T‑359/14)
Community trade mark — Invalidity proceedings — Community figurative mark COLOMBIANO COFFEE HOUSE — Earlier protected geographical indication Café de Colombia — Articles 13 and 14 of Regulation (EC) No 510/2006 — Relative ground for refusal — Article 8(4) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009
1.                     Community trade mark — Procedural provisions — Statement of reasons for decisions (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 75) (see paras 14, 15)
2.                     Community trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Relative grounds for invalidity — Interpretation in the light of EU law — Existence of an earlier trade mark as referred to in Article 8(4) of Regulation No 207/2009 — Conditions — Assessment by reference to the criteria determined by the national law governing the sign relied on (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Arts 8(4), and 53(1)(c)) (see paras 23, 24)
3.                     Community trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Claim for invalidity based on the existence of the protected geographical indication — Applicable provisions — Combined application of Article 13 of Regulation No 510/2006 and of Article 8(4) of Regulation No 207/2009 (Council Regulations No 510/2006, Art. 13, and No 207/2009, Arts 8(4), and 53(1)(c)) (see paras 34-36, 47)
Re:
ACTION brought against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of OHIM of 27 March 2014 (Case R 1200/2013-5) relating to invalidity proceedings between the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia and Accelerate s.a.l.
Operative part
The Court:
1.
Annuls the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) of 27 March 2014 (Case R 1200/2013-5) in so far as it rejected the application for a declaration of invalidity;
2.
Orders OHIM to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the Federación Nacional de Cafeteros de Colombia.