Judgment of the Court (Second Chamber) of 19 October 2017

Merck KGaA v Merck & Co. Inc. and Others

Request for a preliminary ruling from the Landgericht Hamburg

Reference for a preliminary ruling — Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — EU trade mark — Article 109(1) — Civil actions on the basis of EU trade marks and national trade marks — Lis pendens — Meaning of ‘same cause of action’ — Use of the name ‘Merck’ on the internet in domain names and on social media platforms — One action based on a national trade mark followed by another based on an EU trade mark — Disclaimer of jurisdiction — Scope

Case C-231/16


Top of the page Documents in the Case
Document Date Name of the parties Subject-matter Curia EUR-Lex Autres Liens
Judgment (OJ)
24/11/2017 Merck
Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
- Trade marks
  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Trade marks
View pdf documents
Judgment
ECLI:EU:C:2017:771		 19/10/2017 Merck
Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
- Trade marks
  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Trade marks
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Judgment (Summary)
ECLI:EU:C:2017:771		 19/10/2017 Merck
Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
- Trade marks
  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Trade marks
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Application (OJ)
15/07/2016 Merck
Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
- Trade marks
  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Trade marks
View pdf documents
Opinion
ECLI:EU:C:2017:330		 03/05/2017 Merck
Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
- Trade marks
  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Trade marks
EUR-Lex text EUR-Lex bilingual text
Top of the page Legal analysis of the decision or of the case

Reports of Cases

not yet published (Court Reports - general)

Subject-matter

Information not available

Systematic classification scheme

1.
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.11 Approximation of laws
    4.11.03 European Union trade mark
      4.11.03.04 Procedure and legal proceedings
        4.11.03.04.05 Dispute before the national court
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.11 Approximation of laws
    4.11.03 European Union trade mark
      4.11.03.04 Procedure and legal proceedings
        4.11.03.04.05 Dispute before the national court
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.11 Approximation of laws
    4.11.03 European Union trade mark
      4.11.03.04 Procedure and legal proceedings
        4.11.03.04.05 Dispute before the national court
-
4 Internal policy of the European Union
  4.11 Approximation of laws
    4.11.03 European Union trade mark
      4.11.03.04 Procedure and legal proceedings
        4.11.03.04.05 Dispute before the national court


Citations of case-law or legislation

References in grounds of judgment

Operative part

Opinion


Dates

Date of the lodging of the application initiating proceedings

  • 25/04/2016

Date of the Opinion

  • 03/05/2017

Date of the hearing

Information not available

Date of delivery

19/10/2017


References

Publication in the Official Journal

Judgment: OJ C 424 from 11.12.2017, p.6

Application: OJ C 279 from 01.08.2016, p.10

Name of the parties

Merck

Notes on Academic Writings

  1. Idot, Laurence: Conditions de la litispendance en présence d'actions en contrefaçon parallèles, Europe 2017 décembre nº 12 p.39-40 (FR)
  2. Uberti, Ilaria: Ancora un'eccezione al principio di unitarietà : la litispendenza, Giurisprudenza italiana 2018 p.381-384 (IT)
  3. Hegedüs, Isabelle: La litispendance au sens du règlement sur la marque de l'UE: qui se ressemble s'exclut - en partie !, Dalloz IP / IT 2018 nº 2 p.127-130 (FR)



Procedural Analysis Information

Source of the question referred for a preliminary ruling

Landgericht Hamburg - Germany

Subject-matter

  • Intellectual, industrial and commercial property
  • - Trade marks

Provisions of national law referred to

Information not available

Provisions of international law referred to

Information not available

Procedure and result

  • Reference for a preliminary ruling

Formation of the Court

deuxième chambre (Cour)

Judge-Rapporteur

Ilešič

Advocate General

Szpunar

Language(s) of the Case

  • German

Language(s) of the Opinion

  • French