Judgment of the Court of First Instance (Seventh Chamber) of 23 September 2009 – GlaxoSmithkline and Others v OHIM – Serono Genetics Institute (FAMOXIN)
(Cases T-493/07, T-26/08 and T-27/08)
Community trade mark – Invalidity proceedings – Community word mark FAMOXIN – Earlier national word marks LANOXIN – Relative ground for refusal – No likelihood of confusion – Article 8(1)(b) and Article 52(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 40/94 (now Article 8(1)(b) and Article 53(1)(a) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009) – Proof of use – Article 56(2) and (3) of Regulation No 40/94 (now Article 57(2) and (3) of Regulation No 207/2009
Community trade mark – Surrender, revocation and invalidity – Relative grounds of invalidity – Registration contrary to Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation No 40/94 (Council Regulation No 40/94, Art. 52(1)(a)) (see paras 50-57, 73-76)
Re:
| Three actions brought against the decisions of the First Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) of 14 September 2007 (Case R 8/2007-1), 20 November 2007 (Case R 10/2007-1) and 19 November 2007 (Case R 9/2007-1), relating to cancellation proceedings between, on the one hand, GlaxoSmithkline SpA, Laboratórios Wellcome De Portugal L | da | and The Wellcome Foundation Ltd, and, on the other, Serono Genetics Institute SA. |
Information relating to the case
Registered Community trade mark subject of the application for a declaration of invalidity: | Community word mark FAMOXIN for goods and services in Class 5 – Application No 2491298 |
Proprietor of the Community trade mark: | Serono Genetics Institute SA |
Party requesting the declaration of invalidity of the Community trade mark: | GlaxoSmithkline SpA ; Laboratórios Wellcome de Portugal, Lda ; and The Wellcome Foundation Ltd |
Trade mark right of the party requesting the declaration of invalidity: | National word mark LANOXIN for goods in Class 5 |
Decision of the Cancellation Division: | Applications dismissed |
Decision of the Board of Appeal: | Appeals dismissed |
Operative part
The Court:
1. | | Joins Cases T-493/07, T-26/08 and T-27/08 for the purposes of the present judgment; |
3. | | Orders GlaxoSmithKline SpA, Laboratórios Wellcome de Portugal, Lda and The Wellcome Foundation Ltd to pay the costs. |