CELEX: C2002/289/18
Language: en
Date: 2002-11-23 00:00:00
Title: Case C-323/02: Action brought on 16 September 2002 by the Commission of the European Communities against Hydrowatt SARL ("Hydrowatt")

23.11.2002              EN                    Official Journal of the European Communities                                       C 289/11
1.     Do Paragraphs 16 and 18 of the Sozialgesetzbuch (Code             group with turbine and generator adapted for low heads’,
       of Social Law) relating to statutory sickness insurance           which was terminated by Commission under Article 8. The
       (‘SGB V’), which in this country make reimbursement of            contract is governed by French law and the parties have agreed
       the costs of dental treatment carried out by a dentist in         to submit any disputes to the Court of Justice of the European
       another Member State subject to authorisation based on            Communities.
       the merits of the case by the insured person’s social
       security institution, infringe Articles 59 and 60 of the
       EC Treaty, even where the national statutory sickness
       insurance scheme is based on the benefit-in-kind principle
       (and not, as in Case C-158/96 Kohll v Union des caisses
       de maladie (1), on the cost-reimbursement principle)?
2.     If, depending on the answer to Question 1, the defendant          Appeal brought on 18 September 2002 (faxed on 12 Sep-
       were to be required, for reasons connected with Com-              tember 2002) by SAT.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH
       munity law, to reimburse the costs of the dental treatment        against the judgment delivered on 2 July 2002 by the
       (in this case provided in the Republic of Austria), is the        Second Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the
       amount of the claim for reimbursement governed by the             European Communities in Case T-323/00 between SAT.1
       costs actually incurred or is that amount restricted to the       SatellitenFernsehen GmbH and the Office for Harmonis-
       rates applicable under the national sickness insurance                              ation of the Internal Market
       scheme (in this case that of the Federal Republic of
       Germany)?
                                                                                                 (Case C-329/02 P)
( 1) European Court Reports 1998, page I-01931.                                                   (2002/C 289/19)
                                                                         An appeal against the judgment delivered on 2 July 2002 by
                                                                         the Second Chamber of the Court of First Instance of the
                                                                         European Communities in Case T-323/00 between SAT.1
                                                                         SatellitenFernsehen GmbH and the Office for Harmonisation
Action brought on 16 September 2002 by the Com-
                                                                         of the Internal Market (Trademarks and Designs) was brought
mission of the European Communities against Hydrowatt
                                                                         before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on
                       SARL (‘Hydrowatt’)
                                                                         18 September 2002 (faxed on 12 September 2002) by
                                                                         SAT.1 SatellitenFernsehen GmbH, represented by Reinhard
                          (Case C-323/02)                                Schneider, Rechtsanwalt, Büsing, Müffelmann and Theye,
                                                                         Marktstraße 3, D-28195 Bremen, with an address for service
                          (2002/C 289/18)                                in Luxembourg.
                                                                         The appellant claims that the Court should:
An action against Hydrowatt Sarl (‘Hydrowatt’) was brought
before the Court of Justice of the European Communities on               1.    set aside the contested judgment ( 1), in so far as it
16 September 2002 by the Commission of the European                            dismissed the action (2) as formulated in the form of order
Communities, represented by H. Støvlbæk, acting as Agent and                   sought;
E. Cabau, lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg.
                                                                         2.    order the Office to pay the costs.
The Commission of the European Communities claims that
the Court should order Hydrowatt to:
                                                                         Pleas in law and main arguments
—      pay to the Commission the principal sum of
       25 109 euros, together with default interest of
       23 422,91 euros, making a total of 48 531,91 euros;               —     Infringement of Article 7(1)(b) of Council Regulation
                                                                               No 40/94 on the Community trade mark (‘the Regu-
—      pay the Commission’s costs in these proceedings.                        lation’): the Court erred in law in finding that
                                                                               Article 7(1)(b) of the Regulation also pursues the general
                                                                               interest objective of allowing signs covered by that
                                                                               provision to be used freely by everyone. There is,
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                however, no evident reason to assume that indications
                                                                               which are merely not suitable for distinguishing goods or
                                                                               services according to their origin must be available for
The action seeks reimbursement of the part of a subsidy                        free use. In the present case it was therefore necessary for
awarded under a contract for the completion of a project ‘New                  the Court to examine whether the compound sign ‘SAT.2’