Dr. Eckhard Ratjen comments on the GC judgment T-736/22 on the question of the likelihood of confusion of trade marks when descriptive elements of signs are identical in GRUR-Prax 06/2024

In issue 06/2024 of “GRUR-Prax – Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz und Urheberrecht, Praxis im Immaterialgüter- und Wettbewerbsrecht”, BOEHMERT & BOEHMERT partner and attorney at law Dr. Eckhard Ratjen discusses the General Court judgment T-736/22 on the likelihood of confusion in the case of trade marks which are only identical with regard to descriptive elements of the sign.

In this judgment, the court follows the first instance decision and confirms that there is no likelihood of confusion in the case of the trade marks SNACK MI and CAMPOFRIO SNACK’IN.
A similarity in descriptive elements of the signs is not sufficient for a likelihood of confusion even if these elements visually dominate the signs.

Dr. Eckhard Ratjen welcomes the ruling of the General Court in his article.
For a higher degree of legal certainty for trade mark applicants, it is to be hoped that the Opposition Divisions and Boards of Appeal of the EUIPO will heed the standards set by the General Court in cases such as the one described, according to the attorney at law.

The complete article by Dr. Eckhard Ratjen was published in the 06/2024 issue of GRUR-Prax. Registered users of Beck-Online can download the article in German here.