Judgment of the General Court of 28 June 2016 — salesforce.com, Inc. v EUIPO (SOCIAL.COM)

(Case T-134/15) ¹

(European Union trade mark — Application for European Union word mark SOCIAL.COM — Absolute grounds for refusal — Descriptive character — Lack of distinctive character — Article 7(1)(b) and (c) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: salesforce.com, Inc. (San Francisco, California, United States) (represented by: A. Nordemann and M. Maier, lawyers)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: M. Fischer, acting as Agent)

Re:

Action against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 20 January 2015 (Case R 1752/2014-4), concerning an application for registration of the word mark SOCIAL.COM as a European Union trade mark.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Dismisses the action;

2.    Orders salesforce.com, Inc., to pay the costs.

____________

¹     OJ C 171, 26.4.2015.