14

The facts of the dispute were set out as follows by the General Court in paragraphs 1 to 13 of the judgment under appeal: ‘1 On 7 September 1999, [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] filed an application for registration of a Community trade mark at [OHIM] under [Regulation No 40/94]. 2 The mark for which registration was sought is the word sign CENTROTHERM. 3 The goods and services in respect of which registration was sought are in Classes 11, 17, 19 and 42 of the Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the Purposes of the Registration of Marks of 15 June 1957, as revised and amended … 4 The mark CENTROTHERM was registered for the goods and services referred to in paragraph 3 above on 19 January 2001 as a Community trade mark. 5 On 7 February 2007, [centrotherm Clean Solutions], filed with OHIM, under Articles 15 and 50(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94 (now Articles 15 and 51(1)(a) of Regulation No 207/2009) an application for revocation of the mark CENTROTHERM for all of the registered goods and services. 6 The application for revocation was notified to [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] on 15 February 2007, which was invited to submit any comments and proof of genuine use of the mark at issue within a period of three months. 7 In its comments of 11 May 2007, [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] contested the application for revocation and, in order to demonstrate genuine use of its mark, produced the following: — 14 digital photographs; — 4 invoices; — a declaration, headed “eidesstattliche Versicherung” (sworn declaration), made by Mr W., acting in his capacity as manager of [Centrotherm Systemtechnik]. 8 [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] stated that it was in possession of many other copies of invoices which, at the outset, it would not be submitting, for reasons of confidentiality. Asserting that it could submit other documents, [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] asked the Cancellation Division of OHIM to therefore adopt a procedural measure accordingly in the event that it wished that other evidence and individual documents be added to the file. 9 On 30 October 2007, the Cancellation Division revoked the CENTROTHERM mark, finding that the evidence adduced by [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] was insufficient to demonstrate genuine use of that mark. 10 On 14 December 2007, [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] filed an appeal against that decision, which the Fourth Board of Appeal upheld in part by decision of 25 August 2009 (“the contested decision”). [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] in particular claimed that the Cancellation Division should have requested other pieces of information. [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] also submitted that the Cancellation Division did not take account of the factors included in the file of another case also pending before OHIM regarding the CENTROTHERM mark. 11 The Board of Appeal annulled the decision of the Cancellation Division and dismissed the application for revocation in respect of the goods “exhaust gas pipes for heating installations, chimney flues, boiler pipes (tubes) for heating installations; brackets for gas burners; mechanical parts for heating, mechanical parts for gas installations; faucets for pipes; chimney blowers” in Class 11, “junctions for pipes, pipe sleeves, reinforcing materials for pipes, flexible pipes, all the aforesaid goods not of metal” in Class 17, and “pipes, pipework, in particular for building; branching pipes; chimney shafts” in Class 19. The Board of Appeal dismissed the remainder of the appeal. 12 In particular, the Board of Appeal found that evidence of genuine use of the CENTROTHERM mark, in respect of the period of five years preceding submission of the application for revocation, namely 7 February 2007 (“the relevant period”), for the goods mentioned in paragraph 11 above had been adduced, since the photographs submitted by [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] demonstrated the nature of the mark’s use and the invoices produced showed that the goods mentioned had been marketed under the mark at issue. 13 However, the Board of Appeal found that [Centrotherm Systemtechnik] had solely provided the statement of its manager by way of evidence in relation to the other goods and services for which the CENTROTHERM mark had been registered (see paragraph 3 above), which, according to the Board of Appeal, was insufficient to show genuine use of the mark. In that regard, the Board of Appeal pointed out that the Cancellation Division was neither obliged to ask for other documents nor to take account of the file of another case also pending before OHIM.’