CELEX: 62008CO0039
Language: en
Date: 2009-02-12 00:00:00
Title: Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 February 2009.#Bild digital GmbH & Co. KG, formerly Bild.T-Online.de AG & Co. KG (C-39/08) and ZVS Zeitungsvertrieb Stuttgart GmbH (C-43/08) v Präsident des Deutschen Patent- und Markenamts.#Reference for a preliminary ruling: Bundespatentgericht - Germany.#First subparagraph of Article 103(3) of the Rules of Procedure - Directive 89/104/EEC - Applications for registration of trade marks - Examination on a case-by-case basis - Failure to take account of earlier decisions - Manifest inadmissibility.#Joined cases C-39/08 and C-43/08.

Order of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 12 February 2009 – Bild digital and ZVS Zeitungsvertrieb Stuttgart v Präsident des Deutschen
            Patent- und Markenamts
      (Joined Cases C‑39/08 and C-43/08)
      First subparagraph of Article 103(3) of the Rules of Procedure – Directive 89/104/EEC – Applications for registration of trade marks – Examination on a case-by-case basis – Failure to take account of earlier decisions – Manifest inadmissibility
      Approximation of laws – Trade marks – Directive 89/104 – Registration of a trade mark refused or trade mark declared invalid – Prior registration of the trade mark in certain Member States – Effect (Council Directive 89/104, Art. 3(1)(b) and (c)) (see para. 19)
      Re: 
      
         
               Reference for a preliminary ruling – Bundespatentgericht (Germany) – Interpretation of Article 3 of First Council Directive
                  89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (OJ 1989 L 40, p. 1) –
                  Examination of applications for registration of trade marks on a case-by-case basis without account being taken of earlier
                  decisions in similar situations – Refusal to register a trade mark applied for by the proprietor of a series of similar marks.
               
            Operative part: 
      The competent authority of a Member State called upon to rule on an application for registration of a trade mark is not required
         to disregard the grounds for refusal of registration set out in Article 3(1)(a), (b) and (c) of Council Directive 89/104/EEC
         of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks, as amended by Council Decision 92/10/EEC
         of 19 December 1991, and to grant that application on the ground that the sign for which registration as a trade mark is sought
         is composed in a manner identical or comparable to a sign which it has already accepted for registration as a trade mark and
         which refers to identical or similar goods or services.