Case T-283/04: Action brought on 9 July 2004 by Georgia-Pacific S.A.R.L. against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM)
Date: 2004-10-23
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, action for annulment (EU), household article, trade-mark law

C 262/34

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

23.10.2004

Action brought on 9 July 2004 by Paola Staboli against the
Commission of the European Communities

(Case T-281/04)

(2004/C 262/65)

(Language of the case: French)

An action against the Commission of the European Commu-
nities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 9 July 2004 Paola Staboli, residing
in Saint-Gilles (Belgium), represented by L. Vogel, lawyer.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— annul

the decisions of

the appointing authority of 12
March 2004 and 6 April 2004 rejecting the applicant's
complaint of 29 August 2003 whereby she criticised a deci-
sion of 9 May 2003 refusing to allow her, as part of a
training programme, to take part in two conferences given
in Melbourne and Perth between 26 June and 5 July 2003
and also refusing to grant her training leave for that
purpose;

— so far as may be necessary, also annul the abovementioned
decision of 9 May 2003, adopted by the Director-General
of the Commission's translation service;

dule for the year 2003 referred expressly to it under the
head of training and, furthermore, one of the objectives of
officials' permanent training is specifically to ensure their
in the
and their
personal development
enhancement of
the
Commission.

the reputation and excellence of

involvement

— Breach of the principle of non-discrimination, and also the
existence in the present case of a manifest error of assess-
ment, in that the appointing authority refuses to accept that
the topic dealt with at the conferences in question (litera-
ture in the middle ages, and more particularly the works of
Dante) comes within the applicant's continuous training,
whereas the subject is directly connected with her activities
within the translation service and, moreover, training leave
is regularly granted to other officials for comparable activ-
ities.

Action brought on 9 July 2004 by Georgia-Pacific S.A.R.L.
the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
against

Market (OHIM)

(Case T-283/04)

(2004/C 262/66)

— order the Commission to pay the sum of EUR 5,000 by

way of damages and interest;

(Language of the case: French)

— order the defendant to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

The applicant challenges the appointing authority's decision
refusing her request for training leave in order to participate, as
a speaker,
in
Australia, between 26 June and 5 July 2003.

in conferences given in Melbourne and Perth,

An action against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
Market (OHIM) was brought before the Court of First Instance
of the European Communities on 9 July 2004 by Georgia-
Pacific S.A.R.L., established in Luxembourg, represented by R.
Delorey, lawyer.

In support of her claims, the applicant alleges:

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— Breach of the third paragraph of Article 24 of the Staff
Regulations, of
the decision adopted by the College of
Commissioners on 7 May 2002, and in particular of Arti-
cles 1, 2 and 3 thereof, and also of the decision approving
the
the applicant's training schedule for 2003,
request for training leave in question was refused on the
ground that the it related solely to activities connected with
her personal development whereas, first, her training sche-

in that

— annul and alter the decision of the First Board of Appeal of
the Office in so far as it held that the mark applied for
under No 2 101 277 was devoid of distinctive character
throughout the Community in relation to ‘rolls of paper for
household use, kitchen towels, hand towels of paper’ and,
when giving a new ruling, hold that the mark refused is
distinctive.

23.10.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 262/35

Pleas in law and main arguments:

Community trade mark
sought:

Three-dimensional mark in the
form of a design for kitchen
towels.

Goods or services:

Goods in Class 16 (rolls of paper
for household use, kitchen towels,
hand towels of paper) — Applica-
tion No 2 101 277.

— find that the European Community bears extra-contractual
liability on account of
the contested decision and the
belated establishment of the applicant's career development
report;

— award the applicant damages and interest for professional
harm, material harm and non-material harm sustained in a
total amount of EUR 64,468, including nominal damages
of EUR 1 for mental harassment;

— order the defendant to pay all the costs.

Decision
before
Appeal:

contested
the Board of

Refusal to register by the exam-
iner.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

Decision of
of Appeal:

Pleas in law:

the Board

Dismissal of the appeal.

The contested decision infringes
Article 7(1) of Regulation (EC)
No 40/94.

The sign is clearly capable of
being represented graphically for
the purposes of Article 7(1)(a) and
Article 4 of the Regulation.

The sign is not descriptive or
customary and does not consist of
a
from the
resulting
natureof the goods.

shape

The sign is sufficiently distinctive
to satisfy the
requirements of
Article 7(1)(b) of the Regulation.

The present action is brought against the decision adopted on
31 March 2004 by the Director of Personnel and Administra-
tion of the Commission, rejecting the applicant's complaint
submitted in the context of the establishment of his career
development
the period 1 July 2001 to 31
report
September 2002 (REC 2001-2002).

for

The applicant disputes the legality of that decision and also the
legality of REC 2001-2002 on which the decision is based.

In support of his claims, the applicant alleges:

— Breach of the rights of the defence, having regard in par-
ticular
to the non-classification of certain elements of
assessment in the applicant's staff file, their partial tran-
scription on the computerised system ‘SYSPER2’ and the
fact that it was impossible to identify the reference REC to
be taken into account;

— Breach of procedural guarantees, owing in particular to the
conflict of interests on the part of the assessor and vali-
dator, and also breach of certain procedures for the imple-
mentation of Articles 43 and 45 of the Staff Regulations;

Action brought on 13 July 2004 by Michel Andrieu
against the Commission of the European Communities

— Manifest error of assessment;

— Failure to comply with the obligation to state reasons.

(Case T-285/04)

(2004/C 262/67)

(Language of the case: French)

Action brought on 15 July 2004 by Dimitra Lantzoni
against the Court of Justice of the European Communities

An action against the Commission of the European Commu-
nities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 13 July 2004 by Michel Andrieu,
residing in Saint-Mande (France), represented by S. Rodrigues
and Y. Minatchy, lawyers, with an address for service in Luxem-
bourg.

The applicant claims that the Court should:

(Case T-289/04)

(2004/C 262/68)

(Language of the case: French)

— annul

the decisions of

the appointing authority of 30
March 2004 replying to the applicant's complaint and also
annul the career development report drawn up in respect of
the applicant for the period 1 July 2001 to 31 December
2002;

An action against the Court of Justice of the European Commu-
nities was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
European Communities on 15 July 2004 by Dimitra Lantzoni,
residing in Übersyren (Luxembourg),
represented by Clara
Marhuenda, lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg.