Action brought on 27 September 2011 - Delphi Technologies v OHIM (INNOVATION FOR THE REAL WORLD)

(Case T-515/11)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Delphi Technologies, Inc. (Wilmington, United States of America) (represented by: C. Albrecht and J. Heumann, lawyers)

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs)

Form of order sought

Annul the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) of 23 June 2011 in case R 1967/2010-2;

Order the defendant to pay the costs of the proceedings.

Pleas in law and main arguments

Community trade mark concerned: The word mark "INNOVATION FOR THE REAL WORLD", for goods in classes 7, 9, 10 and 12 - Community trade mark application No 7072705

Decision of the Examiner: Refused the application in its entirety

Decision of the Board of Appeal: Dismissed the appeal

Pleas in law: Infringement of Article 7(1)(b) of Council Regulation No 207/2009, as the Board of Appeal: (i) misunderstood the burden of arguments and proof laid down in Article 7(1)(b); (ii) erred in applying the relevant case law of the ECJ for the assessment of distinctiveness of slogans and the possible meaning of the mark applied for; and, (iii) neglected the substantial use and notoriety of the mark which is important for the perception of the slogan by the relevant consumers. Infringement of Article 7(1)(b) of Council Regulation No 207/2009 and the general principles of the administrative proceedings, as the Board of Appeal did not take into account that identical and similar slogans with the word "INNOVATION" have already been registered in the EU and in particular by the OHIM.

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