Case T-70/06: Action brought on  28 February 2006  — Audi Aktiengesellschaft v OHIM
Date: 2006-04-22
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, action for annulment (EU), trade-mark law

C 96/30

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

22.4.2006

Action brought on 28 February 2006 — Audi Aktienge-
sellschaft v OHIM

Form of order sought

(Case T-70/06)

(2006/C 96/48)

Language in which the application was lodged: German

Parties

Applicant: Audi Aktiengesellschaft (Ingolstadt, Germany) (repre-
sented by O. Gillert, F. Schiwek, lawyers)

The applicant claims that the Court should:

— primarily, set aside Articles 1(k), 2(i) and 4(12) of the deci-
sion in so far as they are addressed to Groupe Gascogne
and imposed a fine on it, and amend Article 2(i) of the deci-
sion in so far as it imposes on Sachsa, contrary to Article
15(2) of Regulation No 17/62 and Article 23(2) of Regu-
lation (EC) No 1/2003, a fine in excess of 10 % of its turn-
over;

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
(Trade Marks and Designs)

— in the alternative, set aside Article 2(i) of the decision;

Form of order sought

— Annul the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the
Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
(Trade
Marks and Designs) of 16 December 2005 (Case R
237/2005-2);

— order the defendant to pay the costs of this action.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Community trade mark concerned: Word Mark ‘Vorsprung durch
Technik’ for goods and services in Classes 9, 12, 14, 16, 18,
25, 28, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43 and 45 — Applica-
tion no. 3 016 292

Decision of the Examiner: Partial rejection of the application

Decision of the Board of Appeal: Partial rejection of the appeal

Pleas in law: Infringement of Article 7(1)(b) of EC Regulation
40/94, as the mark applied for is sufficiently distinct and the
contested decision does not contain any findings regarding the
relevant public.

Action brought on 23 February 2006 — Groupe Gascogne
v Commission

(Case T-72/06)

(2006/C 96/49)

Language of the case: French

— in the further alternative, amend Article 2(i) of the decision
and reduce the amount of the fine imposed jointly and
severally on Sachsa and Groupe Gascogne;

— order the Commission to pay all of

the costs of

the

proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

By the present action, the applicant seeks the partial annulment
of Commission Decision C(2005) 4634 final of 30 November
2005 relating to a proceeding pursuant to Article 81 of the EC
Treaty (Case COMP/F/38.354 — Industrial bags) by which the
Commission decided that the undertakings to which that deci-
sion was addressed, which included the applicant, breached
Article 81 EC by engaging in agreements or concerted practices
in the industrial bags sector in Belgium,
the Netherlands,
Luxembourg, Germany, France and Spain. In the part of its
the Commission
decision which relates
adjudged it
to be jointly and severally liable with Sachsa
Verpackung GmbH for the breach by reason of its status as
parent company of Sachsa Verpackung. In the alternative, the
applicant seeks annulment solely of Article 2(i), which imposes
a fine on it, and, in the further alternative, the amendment of
that article so as to bring about a reduction in the fine
imposed.

to the applicant,

In support of its claims, the applicant puts forward three pleas
in law.

Parties

Applicant: Groupe Gascogne (Saint-Paul-lès-Dax, France) (repre-
sented by: C. Lazarus, lawyer)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

By the first plea, which is put forward as the principal plea, the
applicant submits that the Commission breached the provisions
of Article 81(1) EC by incorrectly attributing to it joint and
several liability for the practices engaged in by Sachsa and by
holding it jointly and severally liable for payment of the fine
imposed on Sachsa.