Overeenstemming tussen Aldi en Alda Events, maar geen bewijs dat Aldi haar merk heeft gebruikt voor het organiseren van dansevenementen

EUIPO Opposition Division 1 december 2017, IEF 17326 (Aldi tegen Alda Events). Merkenrecht. Aldi heeft oppositie ingesteld tegen de aanvraag voor een EU-beeldmerk van Alda Events. De tekens stemmen visueel gematigd en auditief sterk overeen. De oppositie wordt toegewezen waar het de klassen 9 en 16 betreft, voor de klassen 35 en 41 wordt de oppositie afgewezen. Aldi heeft niet afdoende kunnen aantonen dat zij haar merken in die klassen met betrekking tot het organiseren van dansevenementen (heeft) gebruikt.

p. 19 The Opposition Division concludes that the evidence furnished by the opponent is insufficient to prove that the earlier trade mark was genuinely used in the relevant territory during the relevant period of time for some of the Classes of goods and services covered by the earlier marks. Therefore, the opposition must be rejected pursuant to Article 47(2) EUTMR and Article 10(2) EUTMDR (former Rule 22(2) EUTMIR, in force before 01/10/2017) insofar is based on:

• - international registration designating the European Union No 870 876 is insufficient as a whole to establish use of the mark for some of the services in Class 35 and the services in Classes 38, 40, 41 and 42,
• - European Union trade mark registration No 2 071 728 for all Classes.

p. 27 Considering all the above, the Opposition Division finds that there is a likelihood of confusion on the part of the English-speaking part of the public and therefore the opposition is partly well founded on the basis of the opponent’s International registration designating the European Union No 870 876 and European Union trade mark registration No 2 071 728. It follows from the above that the contested trade mark must be rejected for the goods found to be identical or similar to those of the earlier trade mark. The rest of the contested services are dissimilar. As similarity of goods and services is a necessary condition for the application of Article 8(1) EUTMR, the opposition based on this Article and directed at these services cannot be successful.