CELEX: 62011TN0580
Language: en
Date: 2011-11-08 00:00:00
Title: Case T-580/11: Action brought on 8 November 2011 — McNeil v OHIM — Alkalon (NICORONO)

28.1.2012   
            
            
               EN
            
            
               Official Journal of the European Union
            
            
               C 25/58
            
         
      Action brought on 8 November 2011 — McNeil v OHIM — Alkalon (NICORONO)
      (Case T-580/11)
      (2012/C 25/111)
      Language in which the application was lodged: English
      
         Parties
      
      
         Applicant: McNeil AB (Helsingborg, Sweden) (represented by: I. Starr, Solicitor)
      
         Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)
      
         Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal: Alkalon ApS (Copenhagen V, Denmark)
      
         Form of order sought
      
      
                  —
               
               
                  Annul the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) of 3 August 2011 in case R 1582/2010-2;
               
            
                  —
               
               
                  Order the defendant to pay to the applicant its costs of and occasioned by this appeal.
               
            
         Pleas in law and main arguments
      
      
         Applicant for a Community trade mark: The other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal
      
         Community trade mark concerned: The word mark ‘NICORONO’, for goods in classes 5, 10 and 30 — Community trade mark application No 6654529
      
         Proprietor of the mark or sign cited in the opposition proceedings: The applicant
      
         Mark or sign cited in opposition: Community trade mark registration No 2190239 of the word mark ‘NICORETTE’, for goods in classes 5, 10 and 30
      
         Decision of the Opposition Division: Upheld the opposition
      
         Decision of the Board of Appeal: Annulled the contested decision
      
         Pleas in law: Infringement of Articles 75, 8(1)(b) and 8(5) of Council Regulation No 207/2009, as the Board of Appeal has failed to give sufficient weight in the overall assessment to: (i) the identity of the goods concerned and the fact that this offsets a lesser degree of similarity between the marks to be compared; (ii) the fact that consumers normally perceive word marks as a whole and pay particular attention to the beginning of a mark; and (iii) the fact that the applicant’s mark ‘NICORETTE’ has enhanced distinctiveness and an extensive reputation through significant use.