Judgment of the General Court (Third Chamber) of 15 October 2013 —
Electric Bike World v OHIM — Brunswick (LIFECYCLE)
(Case T‑379/12)
Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for Community word mark LIFECYCLE — Earlier national word mark LIFECYCLE — Partial refusal of registration by the Board of Appeal — Likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Obligation to state reasons — Article 75 of Regulation No 207/2009
1. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Criteria for assessment (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 21, 22)
2. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity between the goods or services in question — Complementary nature of the goods or services (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 23)
3. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Word marks LIFECYCLE (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 24, 25, 57-59)
4. Community trade mark — Procedural provisions — Statement of reasons for decisions — Article 75, first sentence, of Regulation No 207/2009 — Scope identical to that of Article 296 TFEU (Art. 296 TFEU; Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 75, first sentence) (see para. 30)
5. Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Separate examination of the grounds for refusal in relation to each of the products or services covered by the application for registration — Obligation to state the reasons for refusing to register — Scope (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)) (see para. 31)
6. Community trade mark — Procedural provisions — Examination of the facts of the Office’s own motion — Opposition proceedings — Examination restricted to the submissions of the parties — Well-known facts taken into account (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 76(1)) (see para. 50)
Re:
| ACTION brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of OHIM of 16 May 2012 (Case R 2308/2011‑1), relating to opposition proceedings between Brunswick Corp. and Electric Bike World Ltd. |
Operative part
The Court:
2. | | Orders Electric Bike World Ltd to pay the costs. |