Case C-238/06 P: Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 25 October 2007 — Develey Holding GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (Appeal — Community trade mark — Three-dimensional mark — Shape of a plastic bottle — Refusal to register — Absolute grounds for refusal — Lack of distinctive character — Earlier national trade mark — Paris Convention — TRIPs Agreement — Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94)
Date: 2007-12-22
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, action for annulment (EU), appeal, fruit juice, milk, milk product, trade-mark law, vegetable product

C 315/16

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

22.12.2007

for

Judgment of the Court (First Chamber) of 8 November
a preliminary ruling from the
2007 (reference
Verwaltungsgerichtshof
(Austria)) — Stadtgemeinde
Frohnleiten GmbH v
Frohnleiten, Gemeindebetriebe
Bundesminister für Land- und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und
Wasserwirtschaft

(Case C-221/06) (1)

(Reference for a preliminary ruling — Levy on the long-term
depositing of waste at a waste disposal site — Levy payable
by the operator of the waste disposal site and calculated
according to the weight of the waste being deposited and the
state of the waste disposal site — Exemption from the levy in
respect of the deposit of waste from contaminated sites in
Austria — No exemption for the deposit of waste from
located in other Member States —
contaminated sites

Article 90 EC — Internal taxation — Discrimination)

(2007/C 315/25)

Language of the case: German

Referring court

Verwaltungsgerichtshof

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicants:
Frohnleiten GmbH

Stadtgemeinde

Frohnleiten,

Gemeindebetriebe

Defendant: Bundesminister
Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft,

für Land- und Forstwirtschaft,

Judgment of the Court (Eighth Chamber) of 25 October
2007 — Develey Holding GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG v
Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade
Marks and Designs)

(Case C-238/06 P) (1)

(Appeal — Community trade mark — Three-dimensional
mark — Shape of a plastic bottle — Refusal to register —
Absolute grounds for refusal — Lack of distinctive character
— Earlier national trade mark — Paris Convention — TRIPs
Agreement — Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94)

(2007/C 315/26)

Language of the case: German

Parties

Appellant: Develey Holding GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG (repre-
sented by: R. and H. Kunz-Hallstein, Rechtsanwälte)

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

Intervener: Republik Österreich

Re:

Re:

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Verwaltungsgerichtshof
(Austria) — Interpretation of Articles 10, 12, 23, 25, 49 and 90
of the EC Treaty — Exemption from tax on the deposit of waste
for waste deriving from the rehabilitation of disused hazardous
sites (Altlasten) if those sites are entered in public registers —
Exclusion of waste deriving from disused hazardous sites located
in another Member State

Appeal against the judgment of
the Court of First Instance
(Second Chamber) of 15 March 2006 in Case T-129/04 Develey
Holding GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG v OHIM,
in which the
Court of First Instance dismissed the action for annulment of a
decision refusing registration of a three-dimensional mark for
goods in Classes 29, 30 and 32 in the shape of a plastic bottle
— Distinctive character of the mark

Operative part of the judgment

Operative part of the judgment

The first paragraph of Article 90 EC precludes a national tax provision
such as Paragraph 3(2).1 of the Law on the rehabilitation of disused
hazardous sites (Altlastensanierungsgesetz) of 7 June 1989 which
exempts from the levy imposed on the long-term depositing of waste at
waste disposal sites in the Member State concerned deposits of waste
derived from the rehabilitation or safeguarding of disused hazardous
sites or suspected contaminated sites located in that Member State
alone, but excludes exemption of deposits of waste derived from the
rehabilitation or safeguarding of sites located in other Member States.

The Court:

1. Dismisses the appeal;

2. Orders Develey Holding GmbH & Co. Beteiligungs KG to pay the

costs.

(1) OJ C 178, 29.7.2006.

(1) OJ C 212, 2.9.2006.