CELEX: C2002/233/49
Language: en
Date: 2002-09-28 00:00:00
Title: Case T-203/02: Action brought on 2 July 2002 by The Sunrider Corporation against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market

C 233/26              EN                      Official Journal of the European Communities                                      28.9.2002
The applicant claims that the Court should:                              The applicant claims that the Court should:
—     annul the decision of the Commission of 25 February                —      annul the Commission’s decision of 27 July 2001 refusing
      2002 imposing on the applicant the penalty provided for                   to classify the applicant in the higher grade of his career
      in Article 86(2)(f) of the Staff Regulations, namely                      bracket in accordance with Article 31(2) of the Staff
      removal from post without loss of entitlement to pension;                 Regulations;
—     annul any connected and/or subsequent decision;                    —      annul, in so far as is necessary, the express decision
                                                                                adopted by the Court of Auditors on 26 February 2002
—     order the Commission to pay to the applicant                              in which it rejected the complaint submitted by the
      EUR 12 500 by way of compensation for non-material                        applicant pursuant to Article 90(2) of those regulations;
      damage;
                                                                         —      order the Court of Auditors to pay all the costs of these
—     order the Commission to pay the entire costs.                             proceedings.
Pleas in law and main arguments                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
The applicant was found guilty of a number of criminal                   The applicant in this case, a former official of the Commission
offences by the Cour d’Appel, Brussels. However, that court              and the Court of Auditors of the European Communities,
ordered a suspended sentence of 5 years subject to a number              contests the refusal of the appointing authority to classify him
of conditions in order to avoid affecting the applicant’s civic          in the higher grade of his career bracket at the time of his
status.                                                                  recruitment to grade B5 step 3, following his inclusion on the
                                                                         list of suitable candidates drawn up on the basis of competition
                                                                         No COM/B/340.
Subsequently, in view of the seriousness of the offences, the
Commission removed the applicant from his post without loss
of entitlement to pension.                                               In support of his claims, the applicant alleges that:
                                                                         —      substantive errors and manifest errors of assessment were
In support of his arguments, the applicant alleges lack of a                    made in respect of his professional qualifications, the
statement of reasons and breach of the rights of the defence.                   length and relevance of his professional experience with
Moreover, the applicant claims that the disciplinary measure is                 regard to the post to be filled, and the level of his
disproportionate to the seriousness of the effect of his conduct                remuneration in his successive positions;
on the institution and his work. Finally, the applicant alleges
infringement of Article 7 of Annex IX to the Staff Regulations.          —      the obligation to state reasons was not observed.
Action brought on 28 June 2002 by Pierre Tomarchio                       Action brought on 2 July 2002 by The Sunrider Corpor-
against the Court of Auditors of the European Communi-                   ation against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
                              ties                                                                     Market
                        (Case T-201/02)                                                           (Case T-203/02)
                        (2002/C 233/48)                                                           (2002/C 233/49)
                  (Language of the case: French)                                             (Language of the case: English)
An action against the Court of Auditors of the European                  An action against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
Communities was brought before the Court of First Instance               Market was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
of the European Communities on 28 June 2002 by Pierre                    European Communities on 2 July 2002 by The Sunrider
Tomarchio, residing in Nancy (France), represented by Nicolas            Corporation, represented by Mr Axel Kockläuner of Meissner,
Lhoëst, lawyer, with an address for service in Luxembourg.               Bolte & Partner in Munich, Germany.
 ---pagebreak--- 28.9.2002             EN                       Official Journal of the European Communities                                      C 233/27
A further party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal             Grounds of claim:              —    Infringement of Article 43 of
was Juan Espadafor Caba, Granada, Spain.                                                                      Regulation 40/94 ( 1), since
                                                                                                              there was no satisfactory
                                                                                                              proof of the genuine use of
                                                                                                              the opposing trademark.
The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                                                         —    Infringement of Article 8 (1)
                                                                                                              b of Regulation 40/94 since
—     annul the Decision of the First Board of Appeal of the                                                  there is no danger of con-
      defendant dated 8 April 2002 in case R 1046/2000-1;                                                     fusion with regard to certain
                                                                                                              goods.
—     order the Office to bear the costs of the proceedings.
                                                                          (1 ) Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the
                                                                               Community trade mark (OJ L 11, p. 1).
Pleas in law and main arguments
Applicant for the Com-        The applicant
munity trade mark:
The Community trade           The word mark ‘VITAFRUIT’ for
mark concerned:               certain goods in classes 5, 29 and
                                                                          Action brought on 10 July 2002 by Commune de Cham-
                              32 (a.o. beers, mineral and aerated         pagne and Others against Council of the European Union
                              waters and other non-alcoholic
                                                                                 and Commission of the European Communities
                              drinks, fruit and vegetable drinks,
                              fruit juices; syrups and other prep-
                              arations for making beverages;
                              herbal and vitamin beverages)                                         (Case T-212/02)
Proprietor of the right to    Juan Espadafor Caba                                                   (2002/C 233/50)
the trade mark or sign
asserted by way of oppo-
sition in the opposition
proceedings:                                                                                 (Language of the case: French)
Trade mark or sign            The national mark ‘VITAFRUT’
asserted by way of oppo-      for goods in classes 30 and 32
sition in the opposition      (a.o. non-alcoholic and non-thera-
proceedings:                  peutic carbonic drinks, fruit and           An action against the Council of the European Union and the
                              vegetable juices without fermen-            Commission of the European Communities was brought
                              tation, lemonades, orangeades,              before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities
                              cold beverages, soda water)                 on 10 July 2002 by Commune de Champagne and Others,
                                                                          Canton de Vaud (Switzerland), represented by Denis Wael-
                                                                          broeck, lawyer.
Decision of the Oppo-         Upheld opposition insofar as it
sition Division:              was based on the goods ‘fruit and
                              vegetable juices without fermen-
                              tation, lemonades, orangeades’              The applicant claims that the Court should:
                              and insofar as it was directed
                              against the goods ‘mineral and
                              aerated waters and other non-               —     annul Article 1 of Decision 2002/309/EC, Euratom
                              alcoholic drinks, fruit and veg-                  Decision of the Council and of the Commission as
                              etable drinks, fruit juices; syrups               regards the Agreement on Scientific and Technological
                              and other preparations for mak-                   Cooperation, of 4 April 2002 on the conclusion of seven
                              ing beverages; herbal and vitamin                 Agreements with the Swiss Confederation in so far as
                              beverages’.                                       the Council and the Commission thereby approved
                                                                                Article 5(8) of Title II of Annex 7 to the Agreement
                                                                                between the European Community and the Swiss Confed-
Decision of the Board of      Dismissal of the appeal by the                    eration on Trade in Agricultural Products (‘the Cham-
Appeal:                       applicant.                                        pagne Clause’);