Judgment of the General Court of 12 October 2022 – MCO (IP) v EUIPO – C8 (C2 CYPRUS CASINOS)

(Case T-460/21) ¹

(European Union trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Application for European Union figurative mark C2 CYPRUS CASINOS – Earlier national figurative mark C8 – Relative ground for refusal – Likelihood of confusion – Interdependence of factors – Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 – Obligation to state reasons)

Language of the case: French

Parties

Applicant: MCO (IP) Holdings Ltd (Tortola, British Virgin Islands) (represented by: A. Roughton, Barrister)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: J. Hamel and D. Hanf, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: C8 (Issy-les-Moulineaux, France) (represented by: M. Georges-Picot and C. Cuny, lawyers)

Re:

By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks annulment of the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 26 May 2021 (Case R 908/2020-2).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Annuls the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office of the European Union for Intellectual Property (EUIPO) of 26 May 2021 (Case R 908/2020-2) in so far as it relates to services for which only a low degree of similarity was found;

2.    Dismisses the remainder of the action;

3.    Orders MCO (IP) Holdings Ltd, EUIPO and C8 to bear their own costs.

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¹     OJ C 412, 11.10.2021.