ORDER OF THE GENERAL COURT (Third Chamber)
16 March 2016 (1)
(Community trade mark — Invalidity proceedings — Withdrawal of the application for a declaration of invalidity — No need to adjudicate)
In Case T-713/15,
Pharm-a-care Laboratories Pty. Ltd, established in Sydney (Australia), represented by I. A. De Freitas, lawyer,
applicant,
v
Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM), represented by E. Zaera Cuadrado, acting as Agent,
defendant,
the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of OHIM being
Pharmavite LLC, established in California (United States),
ACTION brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 10 September 2015 (Case R 2649/2014-1), relating to invalidity proceedings between Pharmavite LLC and Pharm-a-care Laboratories Pty. Ltd,
THE GENERAL COURT (Third Chamber),
Composed of S. Papasavvas, President, E. Bieliūnas, I. S. Forrester (Rapporteur), Judges,
Registrar : E. Coulon,
makes the following
Order
1 By letter lodged at the General Court’s Registry on 2 February 2016, the applicant informed the General Court of an agreement between itself and the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal, pursuant to which they were withdrawing their respective claims in both the proceedings before the General Court and the invalidity proceedings before the OHIM. The applicant also informed the General Court that, under that agreement, each party was to bear its own costs.
2 By letter lodged at the General Court’s Registry on 9 February 2016, the defendant informed the General Court that it had no objection to the case being declared devoid of purpose. Furthermore, as this situation was due to a settlement between the applicant and the other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal, the defendant requested the Court not to be ordered to bear the costs.
3 Pursuant to Article 130 of the Rules of Procedure of the General Court, it is sufficient in the present case to find that, in the light of the withdrawal of the application for a declaration of invalidity, the present action has become devoid of purpose. There is therefore no longer any need to adjudicate on the action (order of 3 July 2003 in Lichtwer Pharma v OHIM — Biofarma (Sedonium), T‑10/01, ECR, EU:T:2003:182, paragraphs 16 to 18).
4 Article 137 of the Rules of Procedure provides that, where a case does not proceed to judgment, the costs are to be in the discretion of the General Court.
5 In the circumstances of the present case, the General Court considers that the applicant must be ordered to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by the defendant.
On those grounds,
THE GENERAL COURT (Third Chamber)
hereby orders:
1. There is no longer any need to adjudicate on the action.
2. Pharm-a-care Laboratories Pty. Ltd shall bear its own costs and shall pay those incurred by the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM).
Luxembourg, 16 March 2016.