CELEX: C2003/083/53
Language: en
Date: 2003-04-05 00:00:00
Title: Case T-35/03: Action brought on 31 January 2003 by Aventis Cropscience S.A. against Office for the Harmonisation of the Internal Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM)

C 83/24               EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                         5.4.2003
The applicant claims that the Court should:                               The applicant claims that the Court should:
—     annul the Commission’s decision rejecting the applicant’s           —     annul the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of
      candidature and refusing to admit him to the written                      OHIM of 18 November 2002 in file R 803/2001-2;
      procedure in open competition EUR/A/166/01, as noti-
      fied to him by decision of the appointing authority of              —     uphold, therefore, the applicant’s opposition to regis-
      8 April 2002;                                                             tration of the trade mark ‘CARPO’, and
—     in the alternative, order compensation for non-material             —     order the defendant to pay the costs.
      damage provisionally estimated at EUR 2 500;
—     order the defendant to pay the costs.
                                                                          Pleas in law and main arguments
                                                                          Applicant for the Com-        Basf Aktiengegesellschaft
Pleas in law and main arguments                                           munity trade mark:
                                                                          The Community trade           Word mark ‘CARPO’ for products
The applicant in the present case challenges the decision                 mark concerned:               in class 5 (fungicides, herbicides,
refusing to allow him to take part in the tests in competition                                          insecticides and pesticides).
EUR/A/166/01, held for the purpose of constituting a reserve
for recruitment of A7/A6 administrators in the area of                    Proprietor of the right to    Applicant.
auditing, on the ground that the qualifications and diplomas              the trade mark or sign
produced by the applicant did not satisfy the conditions laid             asserted by way of oppo-
down in point III.B.2 of the notice of competition. The                   sition in the opposition
Selection Board considered that the applicant’s qualifications of         proceedings:
‘Ragioniere e Perito Commerciale’ and ‘Revisore Commerciale’
could not be regarded as equivalent to the qualification of               Trade mark or sign            Spanish word mark ‘HARPO Z’
‘Dottore Commercialista’.                                                 asserted by way of oppo-      for products in Class 5 (prep-
                                                                          sition in the opposition      arations for destroying vermin,
                                                                          proceedings:                  fungicides, herbicides).
In support of his claims, the applicant alleges failure to comply
with of the notice of competition and infringement of the duty            Decision of the Oppo-         Opposition rejected.
to state reasons, and alleges that there was in the circumstances         sition Division:
of the case a manifest error of assessment. Specifically, he
argues that the Selection Board erred in its assessment of his            Decision of the Board of      Action dismissed.
qualifications, diplomas, professional activity and training              Appeal:
periods in auditing which in fact enable him to claim a
professional qualification of equivalent level.                           Grounds of claim:             Misapplication of Article 8(1)(b)
                                                                                                        of Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (like-
                                                                                                        lihood of confusion)
Action brought on 31 January 2003 by Aventis Cropscien-
ce S.A. against Office for the Harmonisation of the                       Action brought on 4 February 2003 by Open Mobile
     Internal Market (trade marks and designs) (OHIM)
                                                                          Alliance Ltd. against the Office for Harmonization in the
                                                                                                   Internal Market
                         (Case T-35/03)
                                                                                                    (Case T-37/03)
                         (2003/C 83/53)
                                                                                                    (2003/C 83/54)
                  (Language of the case: Spanish)
                                                                                             (Language of the case: English)
An action against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal
Market (trade marks and designs (OHIM) was brought before                 An action against the Office for Harmonization in the Internal
the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on                Market was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
31 January 2003 by Aventis Cropscience S.A., the registered               European Communities on 4 February 2003 by Open Mobile
office of which is in Lyon (France), represented by Enrique               Alliance Ltd., Reading, United Kingdom, represented by Ms
Armijo Chávarri.                                                          Alexandra Dellmeier, Attorney at Law.