Joined Cases T-50/06, T-56/06, T-60/06, T-62/06 and T-69/06: Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 12 December 2007 — Ireland and Others v Commission (State aid — Directive 92/81/EEC — Excise duty on mineral oils — Mineral oils used as fuel for the production of alumina — Exemption granted by the French, Irish and Italian authorities — New aid — Existing aid — Obligation to state reasons — Finding of the Court of its own motion)
Date: 2007-12-12
Institutions: General Court
Subjects: EU Member State, European Commission, State aid, action for annulment (EU), aluminium, control of State aid, environmental protection, excise duty, fuel, mineral oil, oxide, tax system

26.1.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 22/43

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 11 December
2007 — Portela & Companhia v OHIM — Torrens
Cuadrado and Gilbert Sanz (Bial)

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 12 December
2007 — Ireland and Others v Commission

(Case T-10/06) (1)

(Joined Cases T-50/06, T-56/06, T-60/06, T-62/06 and
T-69/06) (1)

(Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Appli-
cation for figurative Community trade mark Bial — Earlier
national word mark BIAL — Relative ground for refusal —
Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC)
No 40/94 — Proof of existence of the earlier mark — Coexis-
tence of earlier marks — Plea amending subject matter of the
proceedings — Evidence presented for the first time before the
Court of First Instance — Costs incurred before the Opposi-
tion Division)

(State aid — Directive 92/81/EEC — Excise duty on mineral
oils — Mineral oils used as fuel for the production of alumina
— Exemption granted by the French, Irish and Italian authori-
ties — New aid — Existing aid — Obligation to state reasons
— Finding of the Court of its own motion)

(2008/C 22/80)

Languages of the case: English, French and Italian

(2008/C 22/79)

Language of the case: Portuguese

Parties

Applicant: Portela & Companhia, SA (S. Mamede do Coronado,
Portugal) (represented by: J. Conceição Pimenta, Lawyer)

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
(Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: J. Novais Gonçalves,
Agent)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM,
intervener before the Court of First Instance: Juan Torrens Cuadrado
and Josep Gilbert Sanz (Gava, Spain)

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal
of OHIM of 14 September 2005 (Case R 897/2004-1)
concerning opposition proceedings between (a)
Juan Torrens
Cuadrado and Josep Gilbert Sanz and (b) Portela & Companhia,
SA.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Annuls the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the Office for
Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)
(OHIM) of 14 September 2005 (Case R 897/2004-1) in so far
as it orders the applicant to pay the sum of EUR 600 towards the
costs incurred by Mr Torrens Cuadrado and Mr Gilbert Sanz for
the opposition proceedings.

Parties

Applicant in Case T-50/06: Ireland (represented by: D. O'Hagan,
Agent, and P. McGarry, Barrister)

Applicant in Case T-56/06: French Republic (represented by: G. de
Bergues and S. Ramet, Agents)

Applicant
Aiello, avvocato dello Stato)

in Case T-60/06:

Italian Republic (represented by: G.

Applicant
Italy)
(represented by: L. Martin Alegi, R. Denton and M. Garcia, Solicitors)

in Case T-62/06: Eurallumina SpA (Portoscuso,

Applicant
Ireland) (represented by: J. Handoll and C. Waterson, Solicitors)

in Case T-69/06: Aughinish Alumina Ltd (Askeaton,

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities (represented by
V. Di Bucci, N. Khan, P. Stancanelli and K. Walkerová, acting as
Agents)

Re:

Actions for annulment of Commission Decision 2006/323/EC
of 7 December 2005 on the exemption from excise duty on
for alumina production in the
mineral oils used as
Sardinia,
Shannon
Gardanne
implemented by France, Ireland and Italy respectively (OJ 2006
L 119, p. 12)

region,

region

fuel

and

the

Operative part of the judgment

2. Dismisses the remainder of the application.

The Court:

3. Orders Portela & Companhia, SA to pay, in addition to its own

1. Joins Cases T-50/06, T-56/06, T-60/06, T-62/06 and T-69/06

costs, half the costs incurred by OHIM.

for the purposes of the judgment;

(1) OJ C 60, 11.3.2006.

2. Annuls Commission Decision 2006/323/EC of 7 December
2005 concerning the exemption from excise duty on mineral oils
used as fuel for alumina production in Gardanne, in the Shannon
region and in Sardinia respectively implemented by France, Ireland
and Italy;

C 22/44

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

26.1.2008

3. Dismisses the remainder of the action in Case T-62/06;

4. Orders the Commission to bear its own costs and to pay those of
including the costs of the interim proceedings in

the applicants,
Case T-69/06 R.

(1) OJ C 86, 8.4.2006.

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 13 Decem-
jaunes
ber

v OHIM — Pages

2007 — Xentral

(PAGESJAUNES.COM)

(Case T-134/06) (1)

(Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Appli-
cation for the Community word mark PAGESJAUNES.COM
— Earlier national figurative mark LES PAGES JAUNES —
Domain name ‘pagesjaunes.com’ — Relative ground for
refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of
Regulation (EC) No 40/94)

Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 12 December
2007 — DeTeMedien v OHIM (suchen.de)

(Case T-117/06) (1)

(Community trade mark — Application for the Community
word mark suchen.de — Absolute ground for refusal — Lack
of distinctive character — Domain name — Article 7(1)(b)
and (c) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94)

Parties

(2008/C 22/82)

Language of the case: French

(2008/C 22/81)

Language of the case: German

Applicant: Xentral LLC (Florida, United States) (represented by:
A. Bertrand, lawyer)

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
Folliard-
(Trade Marks
Monguiral, Agent)

(represented by: A.

and Designs)

Parties

Applicant: DeTeMedien Deutsche Telekom Medien GmbH
((Frankfurt am Main, Germany)
(represented initially by J.
Fesenmair and I. Gehring, and subsequently by J. Fesenmair and
T.M. Müller, lawyers)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM
Instance: Pages jaunes SA
intervening before the Court of First
(Sèvres, France) (represented by: C. Bertheux Scotte, B. Potot and
B. Corne, lawyers)

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
(Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: G. Schneider, Agent)

Re:

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal
of OHIM of 30 January 2006 (Case R 287/2005-1) concerning
an application for registration of the word sign suchen.de as a
Community trade mark.

Action brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal
of OHIM of 15 February 2006 (Case R 708/2005-1) in respect
of opposition proceedings between Pages Jaunes SA and Xentral
LLC.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1. Dismisses the action;

2. Orders DeTeMedien Deutsche Telekom Medien GmbH to pay the

costs.

2. Orders Xentral LLC to pay the costs.

(1) OJ C 143, 17.6.2006.

(1) OJ C 165, 15.7.2006.