Judgment of the General Court of 17 May 2011 - Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Álava and Others v OHIM (TXAKOLI)
(Community trade mark - Application for a Community collective verbal mark TXAKOLI - Absolute grounds for refusal - Descriptive character - Article 7(1)(c) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 - Article 66(2) of Regulation No 207/2009 - Lack of distinctive character - Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation No 207/2009)
Language of the case: Spanish
Parties
Applicants: Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Álava (Amurrio, Spain); Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Bizkaia (Leioa, Spain); and Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Getaria (Getaria, Spain) (represented by: J. Grimau Muñoz and J. Villamor Muguerza, lawyers)
Defendant: Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (represented by: J. Crespo Carrillo, Agent)
Re:
Action brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of OHIM of 4 June 2009 (Case R 197/2009-2), concerning an application for the registration of the word sign TXAKOLI as a Community trade mark.
Operative part of the judgment
The Court:
Dismisses the action.
Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Álava, Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Bizkaia and Consejo Regulador de la Denominación de Origen Txakoli de Getaria are ordered to pay the costs.
____________1 - OJ C 256, 24.10.2009.