Testers en gesponsorde links
HvJ EU, 9 december 2010, conclusie A-G Jääskinen in zaak C-324/09, L’Oréal SA, Lancôme parfums et beauté & Cie c.s. tegen eBay International AG c.s. (Prejudiciële vragen High Court of Justice of England and Wales).
Merkenrecht. Cosmeticamerken tegen eBay. AdWords. Parfumtesters. Een behoorlijke lijst suggesties voor antwoorden op een behoorlijk lijst vragen van het High Court.
Heel kort samengevat de vragen: Zijn parfumtesters "in de handel gebracht"? Heeft de merkhouder een "gegronde reden" om zich te verzetten tegen verdere verhandeling van parfums en cosmetische middelen waarvan de dozen (of een andere buitenverpakking) zonder zijn toestemming zijn verwijderd? Is gebruik van een gesponsorde link (zoals een AdWord) "gebruik" van het teken als merk? Is bij gesponsorde links sprake van gebruik van het teken door de beheerder van de elektronische markt "voor" de inbreukmakende producten? Moet de merkhouder aantonen dat de advertentie noodzakelijkerwijs meebrengt dat de betrokken producten in het verkeer worden gebracht op het grondgebied waarop het merk bescherming geniet? Maakt het uit of het teken op de website van de beheerder van de elektronische markt zelf wordt vertoond, en niet in een gesponsorde link? In hoeverre kan de beheerder van de elektronische markt worden aangesproken op eventueel merkgebruik?
A-G Jääskinen stelt voor, Nederlandse vertaling nog niet beschikbaar: “that the Court would reply as follows to the questions referred by the High Court of Justice of England and Wales, Chancery Division:
(1) Where perfume and cosmetic testers and dramming bottles which are not intended for sale to consumers are supplied without charge to the trade mark proprietor’s authorised distributors, such goods are not put on the market within the meaning of Article 7(1) of First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks and Article 13(1) of Council Regulation (EC) No 40/94 of 20 December 1993 on the Community trade mark.
(2), (3) and (4) The trade mark proprietor is entitled to oppose further commercialisation of the unboxed products within the meaning of Article 7(2) of Directive 89/104 and Article 13(2) of Regulation No 40/94 where the outer packaging have been removed from perfumes and cosmetics without the consent of the trade mark proprietor if, as a result of the removal of the outer packaging, the products do not bear the information required by Article 6(1) of Council Directive 76/768/EEC of 27 July 1976 on the approximation of the laws of the Member States relating to cosmetic products, or if the removal of outer packaging can be considered as such as changing or impairing the condition of the goods or if the further commercialisation damages, or is likely to damage, the image of the goods and therefore the reputation of the trade mark. Under the circumstances of the main proceedings that effect is to be presumed unless the offer concerns a single item or few items offered by a seller clearly not acting in the course of trade.
(5) Where a trader operating an electronic marketplace purchases the use of a sign which is identical to a registered trade mark as a keyword from a search engine operator so that the sign is displayed to a user by the search engine in a sponsored link to the website of the operator of the electronic marketplace, the display of the sign in the sponsored link constitutes ‘use’ of the sign within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94.
(6) Where clicking on the sponsored link referred to in point 5 above leads the user directly to advertisements or offers for sale of goods identical to those for which the trade mark is registered under the sign placed on the website by other parties, some of which infringe the trade mark and some which do not infringe the trade mark by virtue of the differing statuses of the respective goods, that fact constitutes use of the sign by the operator of the electronic marketplace ‘in relation to’ the infringing goods within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94, but it does not have an adverse effect on the functions of the trade mark provided that a reasonable average consumer understands on the basis of information included in the sponsored link that the operator of the electronic marketplace stores in his system advertisements or offers for sale of third parties.
(7) Where the goods offered for sale on the electronic marketplace have not yet been put on the market within the EEA by or with the consent of the trade mark proprietor, it is none the less sufficient for the exclusive right conferred by the national or Community trade mark to apply to show that the advertisement is targeted at consumers within the territory covered by the trade mark.
(8) If the use complained of by the trade mark proprietor consists of the display of the sign on the website of the operator of the electronic marketplace itself rather than in a sponsored link on the website of a search engine operator, the sign is not used by the operator of the electronic marketplace ‘in relation to’ the infringing goods within the meaning of Article 5(1)(a) of Directive 89/104 and Article 9(1)(a) of Regulation No 40/94.
(9)(a) The use referred to in point 5 does not consist of or include ‘the storage of information provided by a recipient of the service’ by the electronic marketplace operator within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 8 June 2000 on certain legal aspects of information society services, in particular electronic commerce, in the Internal Market, whereas the use referred to in point 6 may consist of or include such storage.
(9)(b) Where the use does not consist exclusively of activities falling within the scope of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31, but includes such activities, the operator of the electronic marketplace is exempted from liability to the extent that the use consists of such activities, but damages or other financial remedies may be granted pursuant to national law in respect of such use to the extent that it is not exempted from liability.
(9)(c) There is ‘actual knowledge’ of illegal activity or information or ‘awareness’ of facts or circumstances within the meaning of Article 14(1) of Directive 2000/31 where the operator of the electronic marketplace has knowledge that goods have been advertised, offered for sale and sold on its website in infringement of a registered trade mark, and that infringements of that registered trade mark are likely to continue regarding the same or similar goods by the same user of the website.
(10) Where the services of an intermediary such as an operator of a website have been used by a third party to infringe a registered trade mark, Article 11 of Directive 2004/48/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 29 April 2004 on the enforcement of intellectual property rights requires Member States to ensure that the trade mark proprietor can obtain an effective, dissuasive and proportionate injunction against the intermediary to prevent continuation or repetition of that infringement by that third party. The conditions and procedures relating to such injunctions are defined in national law.
Lees de conclusie hier. Nederlandse vertaling prejudiciële vragen hier. Persbericht HvJ EU hier.
