Judgment_paragraph 29 · TeleTech Holdings, Inc. v European Union Intellectual Property Office (T-288/03)

29Whereas OHIM is required in invalidity proceedings to satisfy itself as to the existence of the earlier right on which the application for a declaration of invalidity is based, none of the provisions of the regulation provides that OHIM itself is to carry out an incidental assessment of the grounds for invalidity or of defects which may invalidate that right (see, to that effect, Case T-6/01 Matratzen Concord v OHIM — Hukla Germany (MATRATZEN) [2002] ECR II-4335, paragraph 55). Furthermore, Regulation No 40/94 does not provide that the existence in the same territory of a trade mark with an earlier priority date than that of the earlier trade mark on which the application for a declaration of invalidity is based and which is identical to the contested Community trade mark can validate the latter even if there is a relative ground for cancellation of that Community trade mark.