Judgment_paragraph 34 · Nelson Alfonso Egüed v European Union Intellectual Property Office (T-45/16)

34Accordingly, the competent EUIPO bodies, called upon to rule initially, are not limited to the role of mere validation of the national law as submitted by the opponent. EUIPO may obtain information of its own motion about the national law of the Member State concerned, where such information is necessary for the purposes of assessing the applicability of a ground for opposition relied on before it and, in particular, for the purposes of assessing the accuracy of the facts adduced or the probative value of the documents submitted (see, by analogy, judgments of 27 March 2014, OHIM v National Lottery Commission, C‑530/12 P, EU:C:2014:186, paragraphs 43 and 45, and of 5 April 2017, EUIPO v Szajner, C‑598/14 P, EU:C:2017:265, paragraph 36).