The European Court ruled in Case T‑135/14, Kicktipp GmbH v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) and Società Italiana Calzature Srl.
A German company filed application for an EU trademark Kicktipp for cloths etc.
Against this mark was filed an opposition from an Italian company based on an earlier mark Kickers for cloths too.
OHIM upheld the opposition, the decision about which was appealed. One of the argument for this was the fact that the Italian company submitted only renew application for its trademark without registration certificate.
According the Court this is not sufficient to prove existing rights. Rule 19 of EU Regulation 2868/95 (which covers opposition filings) requires providing “both the registration certificate and the renewal certificate”.
Moreover, according to the Court both marks in general are not similar to the extent to create consumer confusion.
Source: WIPR.
INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY PLANET 