Judgment of the General Court of 16 December 2010 - Rubinstein and L'Oréal v OHIM - Allergan (BOTOLIST and BOTOCYL)

(Joined Cases T-345/08 and T-357/08) ¹

(Community trade mark - Invalidity proceedings - Community word marks BOTOLIST and BOTOCYL - Earlier national figurative and word marks BOTOX - Relative ground for refusal - Damage to reputation - Article 8(5) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (now Article 8(5) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009) - Obligation to state the reasons on which the decision is based - Article 73 of Regulation No 40/94 (now Article 75 of Regulation No 207/2009))

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicants: Helena Rubinstein SNC (Paris, France) (represented by: A. von Mühlendahl and J. Pagenberg, lawyers) (Case T-345/08); and L'Oréal SA (Paris) (represented by: A. von Mühlendahl and J. Pagenberg, lawyers) (Case T-357/08)

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: A. Folliard-Monguiral, acting as Agent)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM: Allergan, Inc. (Irvine, California, United States)

Re:

ACTIONS brought against, in Case T-345/08, the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 28 May 2008 (Case R 863/2007-1), relating to cancellation proceedings between Allergan, Inc. and Helena Rubinstein SNC, and, in Case T-357/08, the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 5 June 2008 (Case R 865/2007-1), relating to cancellation proceedings between Allergan, Inc. and L'Oréal SA

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Dismisses the actions;

2.    Orders Helena Rubinstein SNC to pay the costs in Case T-345/08;

3.    Orders L'Oréal SA to pay the costs in Case T-357/08.

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¹ - OJ C 272, 25.10.2008.