Case C-96/09 P: Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 29 March 2011 — Anheuser-Busch Inc. v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (Appeal — Community trade mark — Regulation (EC) No 40/94 — Article 8(4) — Application for registration of the word and figurative mark BUD — Opposition — Indication of geographical origin ‘bud‘ — Protection under the Lisbon Agreement and bilateral treaties between two Member States — Use in the course of trade — Sign of more than mere local significance)
Date: 2011-03-29
Institutions: Court of Justice
Subjects: EU trade mark, European Union Intellectual Property Office, appeal, beer, designation of origin, trade-mark law








C_2011152EN.01000302.xml










21.5.2011   


EN


Official Journal of the European Union


C 152/3





Judgment of the Court (Grand Chamber) of 29 March 2011 — Anheuser-Busch Inc. v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)
(Case C-96/09 P) (1)

(Appeal - Community trade mark - Regulation (EC) No 40/94 - Article 8(4) - Application for registration of the word and figurative mark BUD - Opposition - Indication of geographical origin ‘bud‘ - Protection under the Lisbon Agreement and bilateral treaties between two Member States - Use in the course of trade - Sign of more than mere local significance)
2011/C 152/04
Language of the case: English

Parties


Appellant: Anheuser-Busch Inc. (represented by: V. von Bomhard and B. Goebel, Rechtsanwälte)

Other parties to the proceedings: Budějovický Budvar, národní podnik (represented by F. Fajgenbaum, T. Lachacinski, C. Petsch and S. Sculy-Logotheti, lawyers), Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: A. Folliard-Monguiral, Agent)

Re:

Appeal against the judgment of the Court of First Instance (First Chamber) of 16 December 2008 in Joined Cases T-225/06, T-255/06, T-257/06 and T-309/06 Budějovický Budvar v OHIM and Anheuser-Busch, by which the Court of First Instance annulled decisions R 234/2005-2, R 241/ 2005-2, R 802/2004-2 and R 305/2005-2 of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (OHIM) dismissing the appeals brought against the decisions of the Opposition Division rejecting the opposition brought by Budějovický Budvar, národní podnik against the application for registration of the word mark ‘BUD’ for goods in Classes 32 and 33 — Infringement of Article 8(4)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:






1.


Sets aside the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities of 16 December 2008 in Joined Cases T-225/06, T-255/06, T-257/06 and T-309/06 Budějovický Budvar v OHIM — Anheuser-Busch (BUD) in so far as the Court, with regard to the interpretation of Article 8(4) of Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trade mark, as amended by Council Regulation (EC) No 422/2004 of 19 February 2004, erred in holding, first, that the significance of the sign concerned, which cannot be merely local, must be evaluated exclusively by reference to the extent of the territory in which the sign is protected, without taking account of its use in that territory, second, that the relevant territory for the purpose of evaluating the use of that sign is not necessarily the territory in which the sign is protected and, finally, that the use of the sign does not necessarily have to occur before the date of the application for registration of the Community trade mark;










2.


Dismisses the remainder of the appeal;










3.


Refers Joined Cases T-225/06, T-255/06, T-257/06 and T-309/06 back to the General Court of the European Union;










4.


Reserves the costs.






(1)  OJ C 113, 16.5.2009.