Case T-224/06: Action brought on 22 August 2006 — Otto v OHIM — L'Altra Moda (l'Altra Moda)
Date: 2006-11-18
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, action for annulment (EU), clothing industry, trade-mark law

18.11.2006

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 281/37

Order of the Court of First Instance of 5 September 2006
— Finland v Commission

Action brought on 22 August 2006 — Otto v OHIM —
L'Altra Moda (l'Altra Moda)

(Case T-350/05) (1)

(Preliminary issues — Objection of inadmissibility — Act
without binding legal effect — Own resources of the Euro-
pean Communities — Infringement procedure — Default
interest provided for
in Article 11 of Regulation (EC,
Euratom) No 1150/2000 — Negotiation of an agreement on
a conditional payment)

(2006/C 281/64)

Language of the case: Finnish

(Case T-224/06)

(2006/C 281/65)

Language in which the application was lodged: English

Parties

Applicant: Otto (GmbH & Co KG) (Hamburg, Germany) (repre-
sented by: C. Rohnke and M. Munz, lawyers)

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

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal: L'Altra
Moda SpA (Rome, Italy)

Parties

Form of order sought

Applicant: Republic of Finland (represented by: T. Pynnä and E.
Bygglin, Agents)

— Annul the decision of the Second Board of Appeal dated 22

June 2006, docket No R793/2005-2;

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (repre-
sented by: P. Aalto and G. Wilms, Agents)

— order the defendant to pay the costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Re:

the decision of

the Commission
Action for annulment of
(General Secretariat) contained in the letter of 8 July 2005, by
which the Commission refused to open negotiations with the
Republic of Finland concerning the conditional payment of
duties claimed retroactively together with default
interest
accrued up to the date of payment of those duties, claimed by
the Commission from the Republic of Finland in the context of
infringement procedure No 2003/2180, brought under Article
226 EC.

Operative part of the order

1. The action is dismissed as inadmissible;

2. The Republic of Finland is ordered to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 281, 12.11.2005.

Applicant for the Community trade mark: L'Altra Moda SpA.

Community trade mark concerned: The figurative mark ‘l'Altra
Moda’ for goods in classes 3, 18 and 25

Proprietor of the mark or sign cited in the opposition proceedings:
The applicant

Mark or sign cited: The national figurative mark ‘Alba Moda’ for
goods in class 25

Decision of the Opposition Division: Rejection of the opposition
in its entirety

Decision of the Board of Appeal: Dismissal of the appeal

Pleas in law: Violation of Article 8(1)(b) of Council Regulation
No 40/94 as the Board of Appeal wrongly considered the
conflicting trade marks to be dissimilar.

Violation of Article 73 of the regulation as the Board of Appeal
did not inform the applicant that it intended to reject the argu-
ment of increased distinctiveness and to disregard the appli-
cant's pleading in this regard.

Violation of Article 74 of the regulation as the Board of Appeal
did not take the necessary steps to determine the degree of
distinctiveness of the trade mark ‘Alba Moda’.