Judgment of the Court of First Instance of 9 July 2008 - Reber v OHIM - Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli (Mozart)
(Community trade mark - Invalidity proceedings - Community word mark Mozart - Subject-matter of the dispute - Absolute ground for refusal - Descriptive character - Obligation to state the reasons on which a decision is based - Legitimate expectations - Equal treatment - Principle of legality - Article 7(1)(c), Article 51(1)(a), Article 73, first sentence, and Article 74(1), first phrase, of Regulation (EC) No 40/94)
Language of the case: German
Parties
Applicant: Paul Reber GmbH & Co. KG (Bad Reichenhall, Germany) (represented by: O. Spuhler, lawyer)
Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: G. Schneider, Agent)
Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM intervening before the Court of First Instance: Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG (Kilchberg, Switzerland) (represented by: R.Lange and G. Hild, lawyers)
Re:
Action brought against the decision of the second Board of Appeal of OHIM of 8 Sepatember 2006 (Case R 97/2005-2) relating to entry of Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprüngli AG and Paul Reber GmbH & Co. KG.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action.
2. Orders Paul Reber GmbH & Co. KG to pay its own costs and those of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM).
3. Orders Chocoladefabriken Lindt & Sprungli AG to bear its own costs.
____________1 - OJ C 326, 30.12.2006.