Judgment of the General Court of 7 February 2024 – Darila v EUIPO – Original Buff (Buffet)

(Case T-101/23) ¹

(EU trade mark – Opposition proceedings – Application for EU figurative trade mark Buffet – Earlier EU word mark BUFF and earlier figurative mark Buff – Relative ground for refusal – Likelihood of confusion – Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Michal Darila (Bratislava, Slovakia) (represented by: M. Holič, lawyer)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: T. Klee, acting as Agent)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: Original Buff, SA (Igualada, Spain) (represented by M. Hernández Gázquez and E. Edissonov Kirilov, lawyers)

Re:

By his action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks, in essence, annulment and alteration of the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 16 December 2022 (Case R 528/2022-2)

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Dismisses the action;

Orders Mr Michal Darila to pay his own costs as well as those incurred by Original Buff, SA;

Orders the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to bear its own costs.

____________

¹     OJ C 127, 11.4.2023.