Judgment of the General Court of 21 February 2024 – Hong Kong NetEase Interactive Entertainment v EUIPO – Medion (LifeAfter)

(Case T-175/23) ¹

(EU trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Application for the EU word mark LifeAfter – Earlier EU word mark life – Relative ground for refusal – Likelihood of confusion – Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Hong Kong NetEase Interactive Entertainment Ltd (Sheung Wan, Hong Kong, China) (represented by: J. Carbonell Callicó, lawyer)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: E. Śliwińska and D. Stoyanova-Valchanova, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: Medion AG (Essen, Germany) (represented by: M. Vohwinkel and S.-M. Bonanni, lawyers)

Re:

By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment of the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 20 December 2022 (Case R 557/2022-5).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Hong Kong NetEase Interactive Entertainment Ltd to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Medion AG;

Orders the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to bear its own costs.

____________

¹     OJ C 179, 22.5.2023.