Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 17 October 2012.#MIP Metro Group Intellectual Property GmbH & Co. KG v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs).#Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for Community word mark MISS B — Earlier national word mark miss H — Earlier international word mark Miss H — Earlier national and international figurative marks Miss H. — Relative grounds for refusal — No likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009.#Case T‑485/10.

Judgment of the General Court (Fifth Chamber) of 17 October 2012 — MIP Metro v OHIM — J.C. Ribeiro (MISS B)

(Case T-485/10)

Community trade mark — Opposition proceedings — Application for Community word mark MISS B — Earlier national word mark miss H — Earlier international word mark Miss H — Earlier national and international figurative marks Miss H. — Relative grounds for refusal — No likelihood of confusion — Article 8(1)(b) of Regulation (EC) No 207/2009

1.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Assessment of the likelihood of confusion — Criteria (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 19-21, 48)

2.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Likelihood of confusion with the earlier mark — Word mark MISS B — Word marks miss H and Miss H and figurative marks Miss H. (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see paras 22, 23, 47, 49)

3.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Criteria for assessment — Complex mark (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 25)

4.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Possibility of a similarity between a figurative mark and a word mark (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 26)

5.                     Community trade mark — Definition and acquisition of the Community trade mark — Relative grounds for refusal — Opposition by the proprietor of an earlier identical or similar mark registered for identical or similar goods or services — Similarity of the marks concerned — Elements of a trade mark having a descriptive character (Council Regulation No 207/2009, Art. 8(1)(b)) (see para. 27)

Re:

Operative part

The Court: