Judgment of the General Court of 15 September 2021 – Albéa Services v EUIPO – dm-drogerie markt (ALBÉA)

(Case T-852/19) ¹

(EU trade mark – Opposition proceedings – International registration designating the European Union – Figurative mark ALBÉA – Earlier international registration designating the European Union – Word mark Balea – Relative ground for refusal – Likelihood of confusion – Distinctiveness of the earlier international registration designating the European Union – Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001))

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Albéa Services (Gennevilliers, France) (represented by: J.-H. de Mitry, lawyer)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: J. Crespo Carrillo and V. Ruzek, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: dm-drogerie markt GmbH & Co. KG (Karlsruhe, Germany) (represented by: O. Bludovsky, lawyer)

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 23 September 2019 (Case R 1480/2019-2), relating to opposition proceedings between dm-drogerie markt and Albéa Services.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Annuls the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 23 September 2019 (Case R 1480/2019-2) to the extent that it annulled the decision of the Opposition Division, except in so far as it annulled the decision of the Opposition Division as regards ‘cosmetics’ in Class 3;

Dismisses the remainder of the action;

Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Albéa Services;

Orders dm-drogerie markt GmbH & Co. KG to bear its own costs.

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¹     OJ C 68, 2.3.2020.