CELEX: C2003/070/53
Language: en
Date: 2003-03-22 00:00:00
Title: Case T-31/03: Action brought on 31 January 2003 by GRUPO SADA, P.A., S.A. against Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM)

22.3.2003              EN                       Official Journal of the European Union                                         C 70/33
European Communities on 30 January 2003 by The General                  The applicant finally invokes a manifest error of assessment.
Workers Union in Denmark (Specialarbejderforbundet i Dan-               The applicant alleges that the Commission should have made
mark ‘SID’), Copenhagen, Denmark, represented by Philip                 an assessment of the effect of the tax exemptions have on the
Bentley QC, Mr Anders Worsøe and Mr Filip Ragolle, Lawyers.             employment of seafarers residing in a Member State and
                                                                        employed on terms and conditions which meet the high
                                                                        standards prevailing in the Community.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                        (1 ) Community guidelines on State aid to maritime transport (OJ
                                                                             C 205 of 1997, p. 5.
—     annul Commission decision C(2002)4370fin of 13 Nov-
      ember 2002 in so far as it is decided not to raise any
      objections to fiscal measures that have been applied since
      1 January 1989 to seafarers on board vessels registered
      in Denmark, either in the DAS or in the DIS registers;
—     order that the costs of the proceedings be borne by the
      Commission.
                                                                        Action brought on 31 January 2003 by GRUPO SADA,
                                                                        P.A., S.A. against Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
                                                                                  Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM)
Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                                                  (Case T-31/03)
The applicant, the General Workers Union in Denmark, lodged                                       (2003/C 70/53)
a complaint with the Commission regarding the tax regime
applied to seafarers employed on board ships registered in the
Danish International Shipping register (DIS). In the contested                            (Language of the case: Spanish)
decision, the Commission decided not to raise objections to
the fiscal measures and considered that they constituted state
aid, but that they were and still are compatible with the
common market on the basis of Article 87 (3)(c) EC Treaty.
                                                                        An action against Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
                                                                        Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM) was brought before
                                                                        the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on
                                                                        31 January 2003 by GRUPO SADA, P.A., S.A., whose regis-
The fiscal measures in question grant tax exemptions to all             tered office is in Madrid, represented by Álvaro Aguilar De
seafarers employed on board ships registered in the DIS
                                                                        Armas and José María Marrero Ortega.
register. The Commission considered that this was in conform-
ity with the Community guidelines on state aid to maritime
transport (1) according to which reduced rates of income tax
for EC seafarers on board ships registered in a Member State            The applicant claims that the Court should:
are compatible with the common market.
                                                                        —      annul the decision of the OHIM of 20 November 2002
                                                                               in so far as it refuses to register ‘GRUPO SADA’ as a
                                                                               Community trade mark; and
In support of its application, the applicant invokes an infringe-
ment of essential procedural requirements and the principle of
good administration. The applicant alleges that the case                —      order OHIM to pay the costs.
involved serious difficulties and that the Commission therefore
should have opened an investigation pursuant to Article 88(2)
EC Treaty.
                                                                        Pleas in law and main arguments
The applicant furthermore submits a violation of
Article 87(3)(c) EC Treaty in conjunction with the Community            Applicant for the Com-        The applicant
guidelines on state aid to maritime shipping and the principle          munity trade mark:
of legitimate expectations. According to the applicant, the
Commission erred by interpreting the notion of ‘EC seafarers’           The Community trade           GRUPO SADA — Application
as meaning any seafarer employed on board a vessel registered           mark concerned:               No 157545 for goods in Class-
in a Member State.                                                                                    es 29, 31 and 35
 ---pagebreak--- C 70/34               EN                     Official Journal of the European Union                                    22.3.2003
Proprietor of the right to SADIA CONOCORDIA               S.A.                                application upheld in respect of
the trade mark or sign     INDUSTRIA E COMERCIO                                               goods in Classes 31 and 35
asserted by way of oppo-
sition in the opposition
proceedings:                                                         Decision of the Board of Appeal dismissed
                                                                     Appeal:
Trade mark or sign         SADIA (national registration
asserted by way of oppo-   numbers 1919733, 642151 and
sition in the opposition   2077409 in Spain, Italy and Ger-          Grounds of claim:        Misapplication of Article 8(1)(b) of
proceedings:               many respectively) for goods in                                    Regulation (EC) No 40/94 and of
                           Class 29                                                           the case-law relating to the overall
                                                                                              appraisal of the trade marks in
Decision of the Oppo-      Refusal to register the trade mark                                 question and to the likelihood of
sition Division:           for goods in Class 29, registration                                confusion between them