Notice for the OJ

 

Action brought on 27 September 2002 by Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)

    (Case T-296/02)

    Language of the case:

    to be determined pursuant to Article 131(2)

    of the Rules of Procedure (

    Language in which the application has been drafted: German

An action against the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) was brought before the Court of First Instance of the European Communities on 27 September 2002 by Lidl Stiftung & Co. KG, of Neckarsulm (Germany), represented by Peter Gross, Rechtsanwalt.

A further party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal was REWE-Zentral AG, of Cologne (Germany).

The applicant claims that the Court should:

(declare void and annul the decision adopted on 17 July 2002 by the Third Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, concerning appeal No R 0036/2002-3 relating to registration of the Community trade mark "Lindenhof" (application No 629741);

(order the defendant to pay the applicant's costs.

Pleas in law and main arguments:

Applicant for the

Community trade mark:REWE-Zentral AG

The Community trade mark

applied for:the word mark "Lindenhof", inter alia for goods in Class 32 (mineral waters and aerated waters and other non-alcoholic drinks; fruit drinks and fruit juices)

( application No 629741

Proprietor of the trade-mark

right opposed in the opposition

proceedings:The applicant in these proceedings

Trade-mark right opposed:the German pictorial mark "LINDERHOF" for goods in Class 33 (champagne-like wines)

Decision of the Opposition

Division:partial rejection of the opposition

Decision of the Board of Appeal:rejection of the applicant's appeal

Grounds of claim:(likelihood of confusion within the meaning of Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94¹;

(the competing marks are extremely similar;

(the goods of the trade-mark applicant are not sufficiently dissimilar to those of the applicant in these proceedings.

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¹ - Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trade mark (OJ 1994 L 11, p. 1).