Fixed-date transaction! Scope of the objection unchangeable after expiry of the objection period – Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt in GRUR Prax 2/2025

Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt on the decision of the General Court of the European Union of 20.11.2024 – T1159/23

In the current issue 2/2025 of “GRUR-Prax – Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht / Praxis im Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht” (Intellectual Property and Copyright Law / Practice in Intellectual Property and Competition Law), BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney at law Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt explains a decision of the General Court of 20 November 2024 on a procedural problem in opposition proceedings at the EUIPO.
The court states that the ground stated in the opposition and the area of protection of the earlier right can no longer be changed at a later date – after expiry of the opposition period – which also means that no narrowing can take place.

In the specific case, the opponent had designated the earlier non-registered trademark right with the EUIPO protection area, which the court interpreted as a reference to the entire EU. The reasoning only refers to use in a few EU member states.

The court considers this to be inadmissible overall. It is crucial to specify precisely and conclusively the territories and property rights when filing an opposition. Following a change, the EUIPO’s online portal, which can be used to file oppositions, no longer provides for the previous selection option “EUIPO”, but only the individual EU member states within the framework of Art. 8 (3) EUTMR. Any misunderstandings that may have been the cause of this are therefore no longer possible.

The full article by Dr. Rudolf Böckenholt entitled “Fixgeschäft! – Tragweite des Widerspruchs nach Ablauf der Widerspruchsfrist unveränderlich” can be found in German in the printed edition of GRUR-Prax 02/2025. Subscribers to beck-online.de can access the article here.