Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 2 December 2014 —
Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma v OHIM — Nepentes Pharma (Momarid)

(Case T‑75/13)

Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for the Community word mark Momarid — Earlier Community word mark LONARID — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Relevant public — Obligation to state reasons — Article 75 of Regulation No 207/2009

1.                     Community trade mark — Procedural provisions — Statement of reasons for decisions (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 75) (see para. 22)

2.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 28, 29, 31, 90)

3.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Assessment of the likelihood of confusion — Attention level of the public — Medicinal products (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 41, 42)

4.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity between the goods or services in question — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 53)

5.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 79)

6.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Word marks Momarid and LONARID (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 92-96)

Re:

ACTION brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of OHIM of 28 November 2012 (Case R 2292/2011‑4), relating to opposition proceedings between Boehringer Ingelheim Pharma GmbH & Co. KG and Nepentes S.A.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) of 28 November 2012 (Case R 2292/2011‑4) as regards ‘chemicals for pharmaceutical use’;

2. Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3. Orders each party to bear its own costs.