Judgment of the General Court of 3 July 2013 – Airbus v OHIM (NEO)

(Case T-236/12) ¹

(Community trade mark – Application for the Community word mark NEO – Absolute grounds for refusal – Lack of distinctive character – Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 – Descriptive character – Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation No 207/2009 – Extent of the examination to be carried out by the Board of Appeal – Examination as to the merits conditional on the admissibility of the action – Articles 59 and 64(1) of Regulation No 207/2009 – Obligation to state reasons – Article 75 of Regulation No 207/2009 – Examination of the facts by the Office of its own motion – Article 76 of Regulation No 207/2009)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Airbus SAS (France) (represented by: G. Würtenberger and R. Kunze, lawyers)

Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: O. Mondéjar Ortuño, acting as Agent)

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 23 February 2012 (Case R 1387/2011-1), concerning an application for registration of the word sign NEO as a Community trade mark

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Annuls the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) of 23 February 2012 (Case R 1387/2011-1) as regards the services in Class 39 of the Nice Agreement concerning the International Classification of Goods and Services for the purposes of the Registration of Marks of 15 June 1957, as revised and amended;

2.    Dismisses the action as to the remainder;

3.    Orders each party to bear its own costs.

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¹     OJ C 243, 11.8.2012.