Zara failed to take advantage of Brexit in a trademark dispute

The General Court of the European Union has ruled in case  T‑467/20, Inditex v EUIPO.

In 2010 Inditex filed an application for an EU mark for ZARA in classes 29, 30, 31, 32, 35, 43.

Against this application, an opposition was filed by Ffauf Italia SpA based on earlier marks ZARA and LE DELIZIE ZARA, some of which were UK national marks, for classes 29 and 30.

The dispute has lasted ten years until Inditex appealed the EUIPO’s decision before the General Court. The company raised a new plea wanting the Court to exclude some of the earlier UK marks because of Brexit.

The Court dismissed this claim stating that the date for assessing the relative grounds was the date of filing the opposition when the UK was still an EU Member State. Brexit in this case was irrelevant to the assessment of the facts in the case.