Case T-245/08: Action brought on 20 June 2008 — Iranian Tobacco v OHIM — AD Bulgartabac (TIR 20 FILTER CIGARETTES)
Date: 2008-06-20
Institutions: Court of First Instance
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, action for annulment (EU), tobacco, tobacco industry, trade-mark law

30.8.2008

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

C 223/51

Faced with ARCHI-MED's insolvency, the Commission seeks an
order that the defendant pay the sums due, since the contracting
parties were jointly and severally liable to perform the contract.

— the Commission incorrectly assumed that the offer made by
the competitor, Lidl, was incompatible with a number of
conditions and that it was binding and credible; and

Action brought on 23 June 2008 — Konsum Nord v
Commission

(Case T-244/08)

(2008/C 223/89)

— the Commission wrongly applied the principle of a private

investor in a market economy.

Further, the applicant submits that the Commission disregarded
its own guidelines in the Communication on State aid elements
in sales of land and buildings by public authorities (1) and failed
to fulfil
its duty of inquiry since it failed to examine all the
factual circumstances.

Finally, the applicant asserts that the alleged State aid neither
distorts competition nor affects trade between the Member
States.

Language of the case: Swedish

(1) OJ 1997 C 209, p. 3.

Parties

Applicant: Konsum Nord ekonomisk förening (Umeå, Sweden)
(represented by: U. Öberg, lawyer)

Action brought on 20 June 2008 — Iranian Tobacco v
OHIM — AD Bulgartabac (TIR 20 FILTER CIGARETTES)

Defendant: Commission of the European Communities

Form of order sought

— Annul

in its

entirety Commission Decision C(2008)
311 final of 30 January 2008 on the State aid implemented
by Sweden for Konsum Jämtland ekonomisk förening;

(Case T-245/08)

(2008/C 223/90)

Language in which the application was lodged: German

— order the Commission of the European Communities to pay

the costs.

Parties

Pleas in law and main arguments

By decision of 30 January 2008 on State aid No C 35/2006 (ex
NN 37/2006) implemented by Sweden for Konsum Jämtland,
which merged with the applicant in 2006, the Commission
found that the sale by the municipality of Åre of parts of an
unbuilt plot of land for SEK 2 million instead of SEK 6,6 million,
which was offered by Konsum Jämtland's competitor, Lidl,
constituted State aid contrary to Article 87 EC.

Applicant: Iranian Tobacco Company (Tehran, Iran) (represented
by: M. Beckensträter, lawyer)

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

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM:
AD Bulgartabac Holding (Sofia, Bulgaria)

The applicant submits in support of its action that the Commis-
sion has committed a series of incorrect assessments in its legal
classification of the disputed sale as State aid since:

Form of order sought

— the Commission incorrectly found that the sale was not at
the market price and thus constituted an economic advan-
tage for Konsum Jämtland;

— the Commission did not take into consideration the fact that
the sale formed part of a series of land transactions under-
taken between different parties, the purpose of which was
the implementation of detailed plans for the village of Åre;

— annul the decision of the First Board of Appeal of 11 April
2008 (Case R 708/2007-1), notified on 21 April 2008;

— order the third party to pay the refundable costs, including

those of the main proceedings and of the defendant;

— in the alternative, annul the decision of 11 April 2008 and
that of 7 March 2007 — 1414C — and hold the third
party's application of 8 November 2005 to be inadmissible.

C 223/52

EN

Official Journal of the European Union

30.8.2008

Pleas in law and main arguments

Pleas in law and main arguments

Registered Community trade mark in respect of which a declaration of
invalidity has been sought: the figurative mark ‘TIR 20 FILTER
CIGARETTES’ for goods in Class 34 (Community trade mark
No 400 804).

Proprietor of the Community trade mark: the applicant.

Applicant for the declaration of invalidity: AD Bulgartabac Holding.

Decision of the Cancellation Division: cancellation of the relevant
Community trade mark.

Decision of
appeal.

the Board of Appeal: dismissal of

the applicant's

Pleas in law: conditions of admissibility to be taken into consid-
eration ex officio by OHIM concerning AD Bulgartabac
Holding's application were not examined, contrary to Com-
munity law, to Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (1) and to other proce-
dural principles.

(1) Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the

Community trade mark (OJ 1994 L 11, p. 1).

By the present appeal, the appellant seeks annulment of the
judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal (CST) of 16 April 2008,
delivered in Case F-73/07 Doktor v Council, dismissing the action
by which the applicant had sought, on the one hand, annulment
of the decision of the Council to dismiss the applicant at the
end of his probationary period and, on the other, damages in
compensation for the professional, financial and non-pecuniary
losses allegedly suffered.

In support of his appeal, the appellant submits that the CST
i) distorted the clear sense of certain pieces of evidence, in par-
ticular by basing a number of its conclusions on an incorrect
material assessment of the elements of the documents submitted
to it; ii) infringed the applicant's rights of the defence by not
taking into consideration or not answering a number of
elements or arguments put before it; and iii) committed two
errors in law with respect to its interpretation of Community
law relating to the applicant's right to complete his probationary
period under normal conditions and to the administration's
ability to supplement the reasoning of a complaint during the
written procedure before the Community Courts.

Appeal brought on 23 June 2008 by Frantisek Doktor
against the judgment of the Civil Service Tribunal delivered
on 16 April 2008 in Case F-73/07, Doktor v Council

(Case T-248/08 P)

(2008/C 223/91)

Language of the case: French

Action brought on 26 June 2008 — Vion v OHIM
(PASSION FOR BETTER FOOD)

(Case T-251/08)

(2008/C 223/92)

Language in which the application was lodged: German

Parties

Parties

Appellant: Frantisek Doktor (Bratislava, Slovakia) (represented by
S. Rodrigues and C. Bernard-Glanz, lawyers)

Applicant: Vion NV (Best, Netherlands)
A. Klinger, lawyer)

(represented by

Other party to the proceedings: Council of the European Union

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

Form of order sought by the appellant

— Annul the judgment delivered by the European Union Civil

Service Tribunal on 16 April 2008 in Case F-73/07;

— Grant

the pleas

seeking annulment and compensation

submitted by the applicant at first instance;

Form of order sought

— Annul the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the
(Trade
Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market
Marks and Designs) of 25 April 2008 (Case R 562/2007-4);

— Order the defendant at first instance to pay all the costs of

the action for annulment and of the appeal.

— order the defendant to pay the costs.