Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 13 November 2019.Outsource Professional Services Ltd v European Union Intellectual Property Office.Appeal — EU trade mark — Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Absolute grounds for invalidity — Article 52(1)(b) — Bad faith at the time that an application for a trade mark is filed.Case C-528/18 P.

Judgment // 13/11/2019 // 2 min read
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Judgment of the Court (Tenth Chamber) of 13 November 2019 — Outsource Professional Services v EUIPO

(Case C‑528/18 P) ( 1 )

(Appeal — EU trade mark — Regulation (EC) No 207/2009 — Absolute grounds for invalidity — Article 52(1)(b) — Bad faith at the time that an application for a trade mark is filed)

  1. Appeal — Grounds — Incorrect assessment of the facts and evidence — Inadmissibility — Review by the Court of the assessment of the facts and evidence — Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted

(Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.)

(see para. 47)

  1. Appeal — Grounds — Incorrect assessment of the facts and evidence — Inadmissibility — Review by the Court of the assessment of the facts and evidence — Possible only where the clear sense of the evidence has been distorted — Requirement that the distortion be obvious from the documents in the file

(Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.)

(see para. 48)

  1. EU trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Absolute grounds for invalidity — Applicant in bad faith when lodging the trade mark application — Criteria for assessment — No need to prove the existence of the likelihood of confusion between the marks at issue

(Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 52(1)(b))

(see para. 61, 62)

  1. EU trade mark — Surrender, revocation and invalidity — Absolute grounds for invalidity — Applicant in bad faith when lodging the trade mark application — Criteria for assessment — Taking into account of all relevant factors at the time of filing the application for registration — Intention of the applicant

(Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 52(1)(b))

(see para. 63)

Operative part

The Court:

  1. Dismisses the appeal;

  2. Orders Outsource Professional Services Ltd to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by Flatworld Solutions Pvt Ltd in relation to the appeal proceedings;

  3. Orders the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) to bear its own costs in relation to the appeal proceedings.

( 1 ) OJ C 445, 10.12.2018.

Trade marks