Judgment of the General Court of 20 September 2016 — Excalibur City v EUIPO — Ferrero (MERLIN’S KINDERWELT)

(Case T-566/15) ¹

(EU trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for registration of an EU figurative mark MERLIN’S KINDERWELT — Earlier national word mark KINDER — Relative ground for refusal — No similarity between the signs — No likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: Excalibur City s.r.o. (Znojmo, Czech Republic) (represented by: E. Engin-Deniz, lawyer)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: M. Simandlova and A. Folliard-Monguiral, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: Ferrero SpA (Alba, Italy) (represented by: L. Ghedina and F. Jacobacci, lawyers)

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the First Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 16 July 2015 (Case R 1617/2014-1), relating to opposition proceedings between Ferrero and Excalibur City.

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

Alters the decision of the First Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 16 July 2015 (Case R 1617/2014-1) in such a way as to hold that the appeal brought by Excalibur City s.r.o. before the Board of Appeal is well founded and, consequently, that the opposition must be rejected;

Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Excalibur City;

Orders Ferrero SpA to bear its own costs.

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¹     OJ C 398, 30.11.2015.