Georg Neumann GmbH v European Union Intellectual Property Office (T-358/04)

Judgment of 12 Sept 2007

law://eu/cjeu/2004/t-358-04/para_25@2026-11-14

25Fourthly, the applicant also raised the point, in the course of the hearing, that the contested decision erred in law since it was based on considerations rejected by the Court of Justice in a judgment issued after the application in the present case had been lodged. In refusing the registration of the trade mark applied for on the ground that it had no distinctive character, the Board of Appeal confirmed, citing paragraph 36 of the judgment of the Court in Case T-323/00 SAT.1 v OHIM (SAT.2) [2002] ECR II-2839, at paragraph 22 of the contested decision, that the absolute grounds of refusal specified in Article 7(1)(b) to (e) of Regulation No 40/94 pursued a general interest objective, which required that the signs referred to should be for the free use of all, and that, in order to avoid creating an illegal competitive advantage for a single economic operator, it was necessary to exclude the creation of an exclusive right for a sign which should be left to the free use of all However, by judgment of 16 September 2004 in Case C-329/02 P SAT.1 v OHIM [2002] ECR I-8317 the Court of Justice annulled the earlier decision, holding that the criterion mentioned in paragraph 36 of the judgment of the Court of First Instance was not relevant for the application of Article 7(1)(b) of Regulation No 40/94.

Georg Neumann GmbH v European Union Intellectual Property Office (T-358/04)

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