Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 23 September 2004 in Case C-107/03 P: Procter & Gamble Company v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) (Appeal — Community trade mark — Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94 — Three-dimensional soap-bar shape — Absolute ground for refusal to register — Distinctiveness)
Date: 2004-11-20
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: European Union Intellectual Property Office, General Court (EU), action for failure to act, infringement of EU law, toiletries, trade mark, trade-mark law

20.11.2004

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 284/3

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Grand Chamber)

of 14 September 2004

pursued by the regulation that the transition to the euro should be
neutral; in other words, provided that the rounding practice does
not affect contractual obligations entered into by economic agents,
including consumers, and that it does not have a real impact on
the price actually to be paid.

(1) OJ C 70 of 22.3.2003.

in Case C-19/03 (reference for a preliminary ruling from
I): Verbraucher-Zentrale
the

Landgericht München

Hamburg eV v O2 (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG (1)

(Economic and monetary policy — Regulation (EC) No
1103/97 — Introduction of the euro — Conversion of
national currency units to the euro unit — Rounding of
monetary amounts to be paid or accounted for after conver-
sion — Contract concluded in the telecommunications sector
— Meaning of ‘monetary amounts to be paid or accounted
for’ — Per-minute tariffs for telephone calls)

(2004/C 284/05)

(Language of the case: German)

(Provisional translation; the definitive translation will be published in
the European Court Reports)

In Case C-19/03: reference to the Court under Article 234 EC
from the Landgericht München I (Germany), by decision of 17
December 2002, registered at the Court on 20 January 2003,
for a preliminary ruling in the proceedings: Verbraucher-
Zentrale Hamburg eV and O2 (Germany) GmbH & Co. OHG
— the Court, (Grand Chamber) composed of: V. Skouris, Presi-
dent, P. Jann, C.W.A. Timmermans, A. Rosas, C. Gulmann, J.-P.
Puissochet (Rapporteur) and J.N. Cunha Rodrigues, Presidents
of Chambers, R. Schintgen, F. Macken, N. Colneric and S. von
Bahr, Judges; M. Poiares Maduro, Advocate General; M. Múgica
Arzarmendi, Principal Administrator for the Registrar, has
given a judgment on 14 September 2004,
in which it has
ruled:

1. A tariff, such as the per-minute price at issue in the main proceed-
ings, does not constitute a monetary amount
to be paid or
accounted for within the meaning of the first sentence of Article 5
of Council Regulation (EC) No 1103/97 of 17 June 1997 on
certain provisions relating to the introduction of the euro and thus
is not to be rounded in every case to the nearest cent. The fact that
the tariff relates to a particular multiple of the unit on the basis of
which the final amount of the invoice is calculated or that for the
consumer the tariff represents the decisive factor as regards the
price of the goods or services does not affect that finding.

2. Regulation No 1103/97 must be interpreted as not precluding
the rounding to the nearest cent of amounts other than those
which are to be paid or accounted for, provided that that rounding
practice is consistent with the principle of continuity of contracts
safeguarded by Article 3 of the regulation and with the objective

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

(Second Chamber)

of 23 September 2004

in Case C-107/03 P: Procter & Gamble Company v Office
for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks
and Designs) (OHIM) (1)

(Appeal — Community trade mark — Article 7(1)(b) of
Regulation (EC) No 40/94 — Three-dimensional soap-bar
shape — Absolute ground for refusal to register — Distinc-
tiveness)

(2004/C 284/06)

(Language of the case: French)

In Case C-107/03 P: appeal brought on 27 February 2003
under Article 56 of the Statute of the Court of Justice by
Procter & Gamble Company, established in Cincinnati (United
States), (lawyer: T. van Innis) the other party to the proceedings
being the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
(Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) (Agents: O. Montalto and I.
(Second Chamber),
de Medrano Caballero) — the Court
composed of: C.W.A. Timmermanns, President of the Chamber,
C. Gulmann,
J.N. Cunha Rodrigues and F.
Macken (Rapporteur), Judges; D. Ruiz-Jarabo Colomer, Advo-
cate General; R. Grass, Registrar, gave a judgment on 23
September 2004, in which it:

J.-P. Puissochet,

1. Dismisses the appeal;

2. Orders Procter & Gamble Company to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 146 of 21 June 2003.