General Court 10-07-2012 ECLI:EU:T:2012:356

Data

Court: General Court

Case date: 10 juli 2012

Verdict

Judgment of the General Court (Fourth Chamber) of 10 July 2012 — Clorox v OHIM — Industrias Alen (CLORALEX)

(Case T-135/11)

"Community trade mark - Opposition proceedings - Application for Community word mark CLORALEX - Earlier national word marks CLOROX - Relative ground for refusal - Likelihood of confusion - Similarity of the signs - Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009"

1. Community trade markDefinition and acquisition of the Community trade markRelative grounds for refusalOpposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or servicesLikelihood of confusion with the earlier markAssessment of the likelihood of confusionCriteria (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 17, 22, 44)

2. Community trade markDefinition and acquisition of the Community trade markRelative grounds for refusalOpposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or servicesLikelihood of confusion with the earlier markAssessment of the likelihood of confusionAttention level of the public (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 19)

3. Community trade markDefinition and acquisition of the Community trade markRelative grounds for refusalOpposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or servicesLikelihood of confusion with the earlier markWord marks CLORALEX and CLOROX (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 20, 43, 46)

Re:

ACTION brought against the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of OHIM of 16 December 2010 (Case R 521/2009-4) concerning opposition proceedings between The Clorox Company and Industrias Alen SA de CV.

Operative part

The Court:

1. Annuls the decision of the Fourth Board of Appeal of the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) of 16 December 2010 (Case R 521/2009-4);

2. Orders OHIM to bear its own costs and pay the costs incurred by The Clorox Company;

3. Orders Industrias Alen SA de CV to bear its own costs.