Judgment_paragraph 43 · Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) v National Lottery Commission (C-530/12 P)

43Where the competent OHIM bodies are called upon to rule, initially, on an application for a declaration of invalidity of a Community mark based on an earlier copyright protected by a rule of national law, their decision may have the effect of depriving the proprietor of the Community trade mark of a right that has been granted to him. The scope of such a decision necessarily implies that the authority which takes it is not limited to the role of mere validation of the national law as submitted by the applicant for a declaration of invalidity.