Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 7 November 2013 —
IBSolution v OHIM — IBS (IBSolution)
(Case T‑533/12)
Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for the Community word mark IBSolution — Earlier Community figurative mark IBS — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009
1. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 18, 54)
2. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Word mark IBSolution and figurative mark IBS (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 19‑21, 39, 45, 51‑53, 55, 56)
3. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Criteria for assessment — Complex mark (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 22‑27)
4. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Possibility of a similarity between a figurative mark and a word mark (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 32)
5. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Weak distinctive character of the earlier mark — Effect (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 57, 58)
Re:
| ACTION brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of OHIM of 21 September 2012 (Case R 771/2011‑2) relating to opposition proceedings between IBS AB and IBSolution GmbH. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders IBSolution GmbH to pay the costs. |