CELEX: C2004/071/72
Language: en
Date: 2004-03-20 00:00:00
Title: Case T-27/04: Action brought on 27 January 2004 by the El Corte Inglés S.A. against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market

20.3.2004               EN                         Official Journal of the European Union                                               C 71/41
—      declares, in Article 3, that certain aid that Spain intends         The applicant claims that the Court should:
       to grant to the applicant to cover exceptional restructur-
       ing costs in 2001 are incompatible with Article 7 of                —      Annul the decision of the appointing authority of
       Council Regulation (EC) No 1407/2002 of 23 July 2002                       20 December 2002 confirming the applicant’s initial
       on State aid to the coal industry (4);                                     classification in Grade A 7;
—      requires Spain, in Article 4, to recover, among other               —      Annul, to the extent necessary, the decision of the
       amounts, the aid mentioned in Article 1.                                   appointing authority of 9 October 2003 rejecting the
                                                                                  applicant’s complaint;
In support of its claims, the applicant alleges:                           —      Order the defendant to pay all of the costs of the
                                                                                  proceedings.
—      lack of competence on the part of the Commission to
       adopt the decision challenged, following the expiry of the
       ECSC Treaty;
                                                                           Pleas in law and main arguments
—      the inappropriateness of the procedure followed in
       adopting the decision challenged, the Commission having
       failed to previously to revoke Articles 1, 2 and 5 of               Following the Court’s judgment in Case T-17/95 (1), the
       Decision 2002/827/ECSC;                                             Commission adopted an amendment of the rules on the
                                                                           criteria applicable to appointment in grade and classification
                                                                           in step on recruitment. By the contested decision, it confirmed
—      infringement of the principle of legal certainty and                the applicant’s classification in Grade A 7 at the date of his
       cumulative procedural errors, inasmuch as Article 1 of              recruitment and for that reason rejected his request to be
       the decision challenged treats as unlawful and incompat-            reclassified.
       ible with the common market certain aid authorised by
       Decision 98/637/ECSC, even though that aid had already
       been held to be justified in Decision 2002/827/ECSC.                In support of his action, the applicant invokes the lack of
                                                                           reasoning in the contested decision, a manifest error of
—      a manifest error of assessment of the facts, inasmuch as            appraisal and alleged discrimination between the applicant
       the Commission failed to take the view that certain aid             himself, whose request to be reclassified was rejected, and
       granted to the applicant to cover exceptional restructur-           other officials who, having professional experience as long as
       ing costs was justified.                                            his own, were able to secure reclassification.
(1 ) T-291/02 González y Díez v Commission (OJ 2002 C 289, p. 33).         (1) Judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communi-
(2 ) OJ 1998 L 303, p. 57                                                      ties of 5 October 1995; published in OJ 1995 C 315 of
(3 ) OJ 2001 L 58, p. 24                                                       25.11.1995, p. 14.
(4 ) OJ 2002 L 205, p. 1.
                                                                           Action brought on 27 January 2004 by the El Corte Inglés
Action brought on 20 January 2004 by Jacques Verborgh                      S.A. against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
   against the Commission of the European Communities                                                     Market
                                                                                                      (Case T-27/04)
                          (Case T-26/04)
                                                                                                     (2004/C 71/72)
                          (2004/C 71/71)
                                                                                               (Language of the case: Spanish)
                    (Language of the case: French)
                                                                           An action against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-                  Market (OHIM) was brought before the Court of First Instance
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                 of the European Communities on 27 January 2004 by El Corte
European Communities on 20 January 2004 by Jacques                         Inglés, established in Madrid, represented by lawyers J.-L. Rivas
Verborgh, residing in Aalter (Belgium), represented by Nicolas             Zurdo and E. López Leiva, members of the Ilustre Colegio de
Lhoëst, lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg.                 Madrid.
 ---pagebreak--- C 71/42                EN                       Official Journal of the European Union                                         20.3.2004
The applicant claims that the Court of First Instance should:           Action brought on 26 January 2004 by Castellblanch,
                                                                        S.A., against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
                                                                                 Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM)
—     annul the decision by OHIM (Second Board of Appeal) of
      10 November 2003 in case R 0285/2002-2, which by
      dismissing the applicant’s appeal gives grounds for a                                      (Case T-29/04)
      future right to Community trade mark No 1.155.985,
      ‘THE OBSERVER’, in Classes 18, 25, 28, 35 and 41;
                                                                                                 (2004/C 71/73)
—     refuse registration to Community mark No 1.155.985
      ‘THE OBSERVER’ in Classes 18, 25, 28, 35 and 41;                  (Language of the case: to be determined pursuant to article 131(2)
                                                                        of the Rules of Procedure — language in which the case was
                                                                                                submitted: English)
—     order the party or parties opposing this action to pay the
      costs.
                                                                        An action against the 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
                                                                        26 January 2004 by Castellblanch, S.A., Sant Sadurni d’Anoia,
Pleas in law and main arguments                                         Spain, represented by Mr F. de Visscher, Mr E. Cornu, Mr E. De
                                                                        Gryse and Ms D. Moreau, lawyers. Champagne Louis Roederer
                                                                        S.A. was also a party to the proceedings before the Board of
                                                                        Appeal.
Applicant for the Com-        Guardian Newspaper Limited
munity trade mark:
                                                                        The applicant claims that the Court should:
Community trade mark          Word mark ‘THE OBSERVER’ —
applied for:                  Application No 1.155.985, for             —     annul the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the
                              goods and services in Classes 9,                Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market of
                              16, 18, 25, 28, 35, 36, 38 and 41               17 November 2003;
Proprietor of the oppos-      Applicant                                 —     Order the OHIM to pay the costs.
ing trade mark or sign:
Opposing trade mark or        Spanish       figurative      mark
sign:                         (No 953.859) and word mark                Pleas in law and main arguments
                              (No 2.116.030) for all goods and
                              services in Classes 18, 25, 28, 35
                              and 41                                    Applicant for the Com-        Castellblanch S.A.
                                                                        munity trade mark:
Decision of the Oppo-         Dismissal of the opposition
                                                                        Community trade mark          Figurative mark ‘CRISTAL CAS-
sition Division:
                                                                        sought:                       TELLBLANCH’ for goods in
                                                                                                      class 33 (wine)
Decision of the Board of      Dismissal of the appeal
Appeal:                                                                 Proprietor of mark or         CHAMPAGNE LOUIS ROEDE-
                                                                        sign cited in the oppo-       RER, S.A.
                                                                        sition proceedings:
Pleas in law:                 —    Sufficient use of the two
                                   marks which form the basis           Mark or sign cited in         National word mark ‘CRISTAL’
                                   for the opposition                   opposition:                   for goods in class 33 (champagne,
                              —    Incorrect application of                                           sparkling wines)
                                   Article 8(1)(a) and (b) of
                                   Regulation (EC) No 40/94.            Decision of the Oppo-         Registration refused
                                                                        sition Division:
                                                                        Decision of the Board of      Appeal rejected
                                                                        Appeal: