v. By judgment of 30 April 2025, the General Court of the European Union upheld the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the EUIPO finding a likelihood of confusion between the two figurative trademarks “GEICAR” and “hey car select” (Case T‑338/24). The services at issue were car dealership, general business and marketing, and…
On 10 April 2025, Advocate General (AG) Cápeta delivered her opinion in the matter EUIPO v Nowhere, C-337/22 P, also referred to as APE TEES. The opinion is both surprising and concerning. If the CJEU were to adopt AG Cápeta’s views, this would mean a complete overhaul of EU trademark law as we know it, and…
Chiquita Brands queens it over Red Queen – General Court, 29 May 2024, T-79/23 The General Court (GC) has annulled another Board of Appeal decision. That in itself is worth reporting as this happens in only about 15% of cases. The Court held that, contrary to the Board’s decision, and despite both marks covering identical…
The judgment of the General Court (GC) concerns a textbook case and addresses the typical arguments in trademark conflicts in the cosmetics sector. Facts The Applicant, Azalee Cosmetics, applied for registration of the following sign as an EU trademark for cosmetic products (class 3), cosmetic utensils (class 21), corresponding retail services (class 35) and beauty…
On 13 March 2024, the General Court (3rd and 7th Chamber) issued two judgments dealing with weak marks in the sense the most trademark practitioners applaud, namely granting descriptive elements in trademarks only a minimal scope of protection. In both cases, this led to the GC confirming the decisions of the Fifth Board of Appeal…
Part 1 of this year’s retrospective provided a general overview over the GC case law from 2023 with numbers and a special focus on genuine use cases. Part 2 now focuses on weak marks. The reader is asked for forgiveness for the unusual length of this post… On social media (in particular LinkedIn), one could…
A recent decision by the General Court deals with the weight of figurative elements in the overall impression of a sign. Facts The applicant applied for the registration of the following sign as an EU trademark for ‘publication of printed matter for advertising purposes’ (class 35) and for ‘entertainment services’ in class 41: The intervener…
At a time when New Year’s resolutions to exercise more fizzle out for lack of motivation, many people realise what the General Court (GC) already knew: sport and entertainment do not necessarily have to go hand in hand. In the BIMBA TOYS case (21 December 2022, T-129/22), the GC confirmed the decision of the Fourth…
Not many cases make it to the Grand Board of Appeal of the EUIPO. The ICELAND cases did, including the first oral hearing ever before the Grand Board attracting lots of attention. There has been a policy discussion for quite some time regarding the registrability of country names as trademarks, and the ICELAND cases…
On 12 October 2022, the General Court decided on the invalidity action by Shopify, Inc. against the EUTM for a number of goods and services in classes 9, 35, and 38 (T‑222/21). The GC confirmed the EUIPO Board of Appeal’s finding that there was no likelihood of confusion, essentially because “shop” is descriptive and will…
