Judgment of the General Court of 17 November 2021 – Société des produits Nestlé v EUIPO – Amigüitos pets & life (THE ONLY ONE by alphaspirit wild and perfect)

(Case T-616/20) ¹

(EU trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Application for the EU figurative mark THE ONLY ONE by alphaspirit wild and perfect – Earlier EU word mark ONE – Relative grounds for refusal – Article 8(1)(b) and (5) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 8(1)(b) and (5) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001) – Decision taken following the annulment of an earlier decision by the General Court – Article 72(6) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001 – Res judicata)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Société des produits Nestlé SA (Vevey, Switzerland) (represented by: A. Jaeger-Lenz and C. Elkemann, lawyers)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: G. Sakalaitė-Orlovskienė and D. Walicka, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: Amigüitos pets & life, SA (Lorca, Spain) (represented by: N. Fernández Fernández-Pacheco, lawyer)

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 29 July 2020 (Case R 424/2020-5), relating to opposition proceedings between Société des produits Nestlé and Amigüitos pets & life.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Annuls the decision of the Fifth Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 29 July 2020 (Case R 424/2020-5);

2.    Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Société des produits Nestlé SA for the purposes of the proceedings before the General Court;

3.    Orders Amigüitos pets & life, SA to bear its own costs.

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¹     OJ C 399, 23.11.2020.