Dr. Florian Schwab with article in WTR Daily on case T-76/23

In the online magazine World Trademark Review Daily, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney at law Dr. Florian Schwab analyzes the decision of the General Court of the European Union of 17 April 2024 (Case T-76/23) on the infringement of the right to be heard in opposition proceedings by the Board of Appeal.

In its decision of April 17, 2024, case T-76/23, the General Court of the European Union annulled the decision of the Board of Appeal on formal and substantive grounds. The General Court found that there was no likelihood of confusion between the EU trade mark application AMBERTEC for specific “ion exchange resins for use in water treatment” in Class 1 and “chemicals for the manufacture of components of chemical installations” in Class 1 and “chlorides” in Class 3 protected by the earlier EU trade mark registration AMPERTEC. In its very technical analysis, this led the Court deny a likelihood of confusion, contrary to the previous instance. In addition, the Court found a violation of the rights of defense such as the right to be heard of the proprietor of the AMBERTEC EU trademark application due to the procedural treatment of prima facie evidence in the context of genuine use of the prior AMPERTEC registration and the interpretation of corresponding documents for the infringement analysis by the Board of Appeal.

The article by Dr. Schwab was published on May 02, 2024 and is available online in English for registered users of WTR Daily.