Invalidity appeal · Board of Appeal · 2022-11-09
R1996/2021-3
Contested design: 008438477-0003
Outcome
The appeal is dismissed, the design holder must bear the invalidity applicant's costs and fees, and those costs are fixed at EUR 1,250.
Show verbatim operative text
1. Dismisses the appeal; 2. Orders the design holder to bear the costs and fees incurred by the invalidity applicant in the invalidity and appeal proceedings; 3. Fixes the costs to be paid by the design holder to the invalidity applicant for the invalidity and the appeal proceedings at EUR 1 250.
CostsHolder ordered to pay costs of €1,250
Parties
Applicant · invalidity challenger
Domain Menada EOODvia PDF extraction
Bulgaria (BG)
Business Park Sofia 1, bl.4, fl. 2, Sofia, Bulgaria
Represented by
Vulchev Ivanov
Holder · RCD owner
Nuvo Konsept EOODvia PDF extraction
Bulgaria (BG)
бул. Ал.Дондуков № 57, вх. А, ет.1, ап. 6, 1000 СОФИЯ, Bulgaria
Represented by
Atanas Kostov
Prior art cited (2)
0.2L beverage bottle with yellow label and brown upper strip
METRO advertisement on www.issuu.com · METRO / issuu.com · disclosed 2012-11-29
Later METRO advertisement used to corroborate repeated publication of the bottle line
METRO advertisement on www.issuu.com · METRO / issuu.com · disclosed 2013-03-07
Legal grounds invoked
Argument summary
- ›The design holder challenged admissibility and disclosure, arguing that the invalidity applicant did not own the earlier marks and that web printouts were insufficiently reliable evidence of prior disclosure.
- ›The invalidity applicant replied that it relied on prior disclosed bottle designs under Article 25(1)(b) CDR and that the METRO/issuu publications and hyperlinks proved earlier disclosure of the 0.2L bottle.
- ›The Board held the application admissible, accepted the online publications as sufficient proof of disclosure, and found that the contested bottle and the earlier bottle created the same overall impression despite minor differences.
- ›The appeal was dismissed and the design holder was ordered to pay fixed costs of EUR 1,250.
Deciding panel
- ChairG. Humphreys
- RapporteurE. Fink
- MemberC. Bartos
- Registrarp.o. R. Vidal Romero
Decision files
| Language | Type | Source link |
|---|---|---|
| deDeutsch (de) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| esespañol (es) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| frfrançais (fr) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| ititaliano (it) | machine translated | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
| enEnglish | original | Download original from EUIPO ↗ |
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