Judgment of the General Court of 7 March 2018 — Equivalenza Manufactory v EUIPO — ITM Entreprises (BLACK LABEL BY EQUIVALENZA)

(Case T-6/17) ¹

(EU trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for the EU figurative mark BLACK LABEL BY EQUIVALENZA — Earlier international figurative mark LABELL — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Similarity of signs — Article 8(1)(b), of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 (now Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001))

Language of the case: Spanish

Parties

Applicant: Equivalenza Manufactory, SL (Barcelona, Spain) (represented by: G. Macías Bonilla, G. Marín Raigal and E. Armero Lavie, lawyers)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: J. Crespo Carrillo and M. del Mar Baldares, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO: ITM Entreprises SAS (Paris, France)

Re:

Action brought against the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of EUIPO of 11 October 2016 (Case R 690/2016-2) relating to opposition proceedings between ITM Entreprises and Equivalenza Manufactory

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.    Annuls the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 11 October 2016 (Case R 690/2016-2);

2.    Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by, Equivalenza Manufactory, SL in the proceedings before the General Court.

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¹     OJ C 63, 27.2.2017.