Judgment of the General Court of 20 March 2024 - EFFAS v EUIPO - CFA Institute (CEFA Certified European Financial Analyst)
(Case T-213/23) 1
(EU trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Application for the EU word mark CEFA Certified European Financial Analyst – Earlier EU word mark CFA – Relative ground for refusal – Likelihood of confusion – Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001) – Coexistence of the marks)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: European Federation of Financial Analysts’ Societies (EFFAS) (Frankfurt am Main, Germany) (represented by: E. Manresa Medina, lawyer)
Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: J. Ivanauskas, acting as Agent)
Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: CFA Institute (Charlottesville, Virginia, United States) (represented by: W. May, lawyer)
Re:
By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment of the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 21 February 2023 (Case R 1418/2022-1).
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
1. Annuls the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 21 February 2023 (Case R 1418/2022-1);
2. Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by European Federation of Financial Analysts’ Societies (EFFAS);
3. Orders CFA Institute to bear its own costs.
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1 OJ C 216, 19.6.2023.