Gemeenschapsmerk – Beroep door de houder van het nationale beeldmerk bevattende het woordbestanddeel „SPORTV” voor diensten van de klassen 38 en 41 ingesteld en strekkende tot vernietiging van beslissing R 2079/20104 van de vierde kamer van beroep van het BHIM houdende verwerping van het beroep tegen de beslissing van de oppositieafdeling tot afwijzing van de oppositie die door verzoekster is ingesteld tegen de aanvraag tot inschrijving van het beeldmerk „SPORT TV INTERNACIONAL” voor diensten van de klassen 35, 38 en 41.
Het beroep wordt afgewezen. Het BHIM heeft terecht geoordeeld dat verzoekster (houder van het Portugese beeldmerk met het woordelement “SPORTV”) onvoldoende bewijs van normaal gebruik heeft geleverd. Het door verzoekster overgelegde materiaal bevat geen informatie over het marktaandeel van het merk in Portugal en over het commerciële gebruik ervan.
38 It must be stated that none of the evidence submitted by the applicant indicates the turnover or mentions the market shares held in Portugal. In addition, it is not possible, from the evidence submitted, to evaluate the commercial volume of the overall use, the frequency of use or the length of the period during which the mark was used, in accordance with the case-law referred to at paragraph 22 above.
39 The applicant alleges that the Board of Appeal paid attention solely to the number of viewers or subscribers but did not take into account the fact that the channel is broadcast in Portugal. Consequently, according to the applicant, by requiring large-scale use and by wanting to assess the commercial success of the undertaking or its economic strategy, the Board of Appeal failed to have regard to the settled case-law.
40 In this respect, it must be found that the applicant’s claims are not well founded. The Board of Appeal, during the assessment of the evidence adduced by the applicant seeking to prove genuine use of the earlier mark, stated that that evidence did not contain information relating to the number of viewers or subscribers or to the turnover concerning the subscriptions to the channel produced by Globosat. However, in doing so, it did not set a de minimis threshold or other quantitative criterion, but merely stated that the evidence adduced by the applicant did not include information which could be considered to be solid and objective evidence of effective and sufficient use of the trade mark on the Portuguese market within the meaning of the case-law referred...
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IEPT20140312, GEU, Globosat Programadora v BHIM
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