Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 18 June 2020.Dovgan GmbH v European Union Intellectual Property Office.Appeal – EU trade mark – Invalidity proceedings – Application for a declaration of invalidity of EU word mark PLOMBIR – Rejection of the application for a declaration of invalidity – Obligation to state reasons – Distortion of facts and evidence.Case C-142/19 P.

Judgment // 18/06/2020 // 2 min read
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Judgment of the Court (Sixth Chamber) of 18 June 2020 – Dovgan v EUIPO

(Case C‑142/19 P) ( 1 )

(Appeal – EU trade mark – Invalidity proceedings – Application for a declaration of invalidity of EU word mark PLOMBIR – Rejection of the application for a declaration of invalidity – Obligation to state reasons – Distortion of facts and evidence)

  1. Appeal – Grounds – Mistaken 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 – Ground of appeal alleging distortion of the clear sense of the evidence – Necessity of indicating precisely the evidence alleged to have been distorted and showing the errors of appraisal which led to that distortion

(Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Art. 58, first para.; Rules of Procedure of the Court of Justice, Art. 168(1)(d))

(see para. 44)

  1. Appeal – Grounds – Inadequate statement of reasons – Reliance by the General Court on implied reasoning – Whether permissible – Conditions

(Art. 256 TFEU; Statute of the Court of Justice, Arts 36 and 53, first para.)

(see para. 63)

  1. Appeal – Grounds – Incorrect assessment of the evidence duly produced – Inadmissible save when the clear sense of the evidence is distorted – Duty of the General Court to state the reasons for its assessment of the evidence – Scope

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

(see para. 72)

  1. Appeal – Grounds – Plea against a ground of the judgment not necessary to support the operative part – Plea in law ineffective

(see para. 92)

Operative part

The Court:

  1. Dismisses the appeal;

  2. Orders Dovgan GmbH to bear its own costs and those incurred by Monolith Frost GmbH;

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

( 1 ) OJ C 263, 5.8.2019.

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