EU: The General Court dismisses the resolution issued by the EUIPO´s Board of Appeal in the case "Gres Aragón"

The General Court dismisses the resolution issued by the EUIPO´s Board of Appeal in the case "Gres Aragón"

The General Court of the EU has just issued a decision dated December 18, 2019, within case T-624/18, that may be considered as particularly important due to the therein included criticisms concerning EUIPO´s resolutions and the need to have them substantiated.

In the current case, EUIPO rejected trademark application GRES ARAGÓN, including a slight stylized lettering, for ceramic products in class 19. It was considered that said trademark was included in the prohibitions of article 7, paragraph 1, sections b) and c), and of Article 7, paragraph 2, of Regulation 2017/1001 EUTMR. The appeal filed by the applicant before the EUIPO was also supported by evidence showing the distinctive character acquired by the use of this sign, also rejected by the Board of Appeal, so that the applicant filed a further appeal this time before the General Court. EUIPO considered that the filed trademark application included the words "gres" and "Aragón" represented in slightly stylized capital letters, but perfectly understandable by the Spanish-speaking consumers as designating a ceramic material (grés) coming from the region of Aragon. As a consequence, the relevant public would not be able to appreciate the distinctive character of this trademark application.

In its Judgment of last December 18, 2019, the Court accepted the applicant's appeal, appearing the grounds set forth in said judgment to be of most importance at a general level.