Judgment of the General Court of 24 January 2024 — U.I. Lapp v EUIPO — Labkable Asia (labkable Solutions for cables)

(Case T-636/22) (1)

(EU trade mark - Opposition proceedings - Application for the EU figurative mark labkable Solutions for cables - Earlier EU figurative marks LAPP KABEL STUTTGART and LAPP KABEL and earlier word mark LAPP - Relative ground for refusal - Likelihood of confusion - Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EU) 2017/1001)

(C/2024/2160)

Language of the case: English

Parties

Applicant: U.I. Lapp GmbH (Stuttgart, Germany) (represented by: M. Ringer, lawyer)

Defendant: European Union Intellectual Property Office (represented by: D. Stoyanova-Valchanova and D. Gája, acting as Agents)

Other party to the proceedings before the Board of Appeal of EUIPO, intervener before the General Court: Labkable Asia Ltd (Kowloon, China) (represented by: R. Ciullo, lawyer)

Re:

By its action under Article 263 TFEU, the applicant seeks the annulment and alteration of the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 22 July 2022 (Case R 1894/2021-2).

Operative part of the judgment

The Court:

1.	Annuls the decision of the Second Board of Appeal of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) of 22 July 2022 (Case R 1894/2021-2);

2.	Upholds the opposition brought against registration of the EU figurative mark LABKABLE SOLUTIONS FOR CABLES submitted on 3 January 2020;

3.	Orders EUIPO to bear its own costs and to pay those incurred by U.I. Lapp GmbH;

4.	Orders Labkable Asia Ltd to bear its own costs.

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(1)   OJ C 451, 28.11.2022.