Reference for a preliminary ruling from the Cour d'appel de Bruxelles (Belgium) lodged on 7 June 2006 — Zürich Versicherungs-Gesellschaft v Bureau Benelux des marques

(Case C-254/06)

(2006/C 212/22)

Language of the case: French

Referring court

Cour d'appel de Bruxelles

Parties to the main proceedings

Applicant: Zürich Versicherungs-Gesellschaft

Defendant: Bureau Benelux des marques

Question referred

Are Articles 3 and 13 of First Council Directive 89/104/EEC of 21 December 1988 to approximate the laws of the Member States relating to trade marks (1), to be interpreted as not precluding national legislation from providing that a court hearing an appeal against a decision on an application for a trade mark registration may not check, in respect of each of the goods or services for which registration has been applied for, that none of the grounds for refusal of registration listed in Article 3(1) of the directive applies to the mark and thus reach different conclusions depending on the goods or services concerned, if the authority responsible for registering trade marks has merely issued a blanket refusal covering all the goods and services and, during the procedure before that authority, the applicant has not sought, in the alternative, partial registration for certain goods and services.

(1)   OJ 1989 L 40, p. 1