General Court (Fourth Chamber) Order, 11 March 2016, in case T-840/14 (International Gaming Projects Ltd, v. OHIM Sky plc)

Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Article 8(1)(b) — Relative ground for refusal — Likelihood of confusion — Restriction of the goods designated in the trade mark application — Inadmissibility

If the applicant is not seeking to withdraw one or more goods from that list, but to alter a characteristic of those goods, such as their purpose or their description, it is possible that that alteration may affect the examination during the administrative procedure. In those circumstances, to allow that alteration at the stage of the action before the Court would amount to changing the subject matter of the proceedings pending, which is prohibited by Article 188 of the Rules of Procedure. Such an alteration therefore cannot affect the legality of the contested decision or be taken into account by the Court when it examines the merits of the case.
In the assessment of the similarity of goods the Board of Appeal is deemed to check whether all the potential purposes of those goods gave reason for concluding that they were similar or even identical, so the requested specification of the purpose of the goods does not affect the evaluation made during the administrative proceeding.

categoria:European Case Law