CELEX: C2003/070/46
Language: en
Date: 2003-03-22 00:00:00
Title: Case T-18/03: Action brought on 17 January 2003 by CD-Contact Data against the Commission of the European Communities

22.3.2003              EN                          Official Journal of the European Union                                          C 70/29
Decision of the Board of       Appeal upheld and opposition                In support of its application, the applicant submits a violation
Appeal:                        dismissed in its entirety                   of Article 81 EC Treaty and a serious error of assessment in
                                                                           fact and in law, as well as an infringement of essential
Grounds of claim:              Misapplication of Article 8(1)(b)           procedural requirements, such as the duty to state reasons.
                               of Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (like-          According to the applicant, the Commission has not proven
                               lihood of confusion and associ-             to the requisite legal standard that the applicant agreed with
                               ation between the trade marks at            Nintendo to hinder parallel trade.
                               issue)
                                                                           The applicant furthermore submits a breach of the principles
                                                                           of proper administration, such as the principle of equality and
                                                                           the principle of proportionality. In this respect, the applicant
                                                                           also invokes a violation of the duty to state reasons. The
                                                                           applicant states that the Commission needs to have regard to
                                                                           the gravity and the duration of the infringement when
                                                                           establishing the fine. According to the applicant, the Com-
                                                                           mission has not acted in accordance with these principles
                                                                           because there is no convincing evidence that the applicant
Action brought on 17 January 2003 by CD-Contact Data                       entered into an agreement with Nintendo and, in any event,
  against the Commission of the European Communities                       the alleged infringements by the applicant had a much more
                                                                           limited impact and shorter duration than the infringements of
                                                                           Nintendo and its other distributors.
                          (Case T-18/03)
                          (2003/C 70/46)
                   (Language of the case: English)
                                                                           Action brought on 22 January 2003 by KAHLA/Thüringen
                                                                           Porzellan GmbH against the Commission of the European
                                                                                                     Communities
An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the                                          (Case T-20/03)
European Communities on 17 January 2003 by CD-Contact
Data, Burglengenfeld, Germany, represented by Mr J. K. de                                           (2003/C 70/47)
Pree and Mr R. Wesseling, Lawyers.
                                                                                             (Language of the Case: German)
The applicant claims that the Court should:
—     annul the Commission’s decision of 30 October 2002 in                An action against the Commission of the European Communi-
      Cases COMP/35.587 PO Video games, COMP/35.706                        ties was brought before the Court of First Instance of the
      PO Nintendo Distribution and COMP/36.321 Omega-                      European Communities on 22 January 2003 by KAHLA/
      Nintendo in as far as addressed to the applicant (in                 Thüringen Porzellan GmbH, having its registered office in
      particular articles 1 and 3) in whole or in part;                    Kahla (Germany), represented by M. Schütte and S. Zühlke,
                                                                           Rechtsanwälte.
—     order the Commission to pay the costs
                                                                           The applicant claims that the Court should:
                                                                           (1) Set aside Article 1(2) of Commission Decision
                                                                                 C(2002)4040 final of 30 October 2002 concerning State
Pleas in law and main arguments                                                  aid provided by Germany for Kahla Porzellan GmbH and
                                                                                 KAHLA/Thüringen Porzellan GmbH (Proceeding C 62/
                                                                                 2000) in so far as that provision adversely affects the
The applicant is active in the fields of distributing and                        applicant;
republishing entertainment software. Between April and
December 1997, the applicant acted as exclusive distributor                (2) Set aside Article 2 in so far as it relates to the measures
for Nintendo products in Belgium and Luxemburg. The                              referred to in point (1);
Commission alleges that the applicant entered into an agree-
ment and/or restricted practice with Nintendo to restrict                  (3) Order the Commission to pay the costs of the proceed-
parallel export.                                                                 ings.