Judgment of the General Court of 18 November 2015 — Government of Malaysia v OHIM — Vergamini (HALAL MALAYSIA)
(Case T-508/13) 1
(Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for Community figurative mark HALAL MALAYSIA — Earlier unregistered figurative mark HALAL MALAYSIA — Relative ground for refusal — Absence of rights to the earlier sign having been acquired in accordance with the law of the Member State before the date of application for registration of the Community trade mark — Article 8(4) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Use of the earlier mark as a label — Common-law action for passing off — Lack of goodwill)
Language of the case: English
Parties
Applicant: Government of Malaysia (represented by: initially R. Volterra, Solicitor, R. Miller, Barrister, V. von Bomhard and T. Heitmann, lawyers, then R. Volterra, R. Miller and V. von Bomhard)
Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: P. Bullock and N. Bambara, acting as Agents)
Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM: Paola Vergamini (Castelnuovo di Garfagnana, Italy)
Re:
Action brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 27 June 2013 (Case R 326/2012-1) relating to opposition proceedings between the Government of Malaysia and Ms Paola Vergamini.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
1. Dismisses the action;
2. Orders the Government of Malaysia to pay the costs.
____________1 OJ C 352, 30.11.2013.