Cava niet succesvol in beroep tegen beeldmerk Cave de tain

Gerecht EU 12 juli 2018, IEF 17832; IEFbe 2660; T‑774/16; ECLI:EU:T: 2018:441 (Cave de Tain tegen EUIPO) Merkenrecht. Consejo heeft een aanvraag voor een EU beeldmerk 'Cave de Tain' ingediend. Cava vordert nietigheid van het merk op grond van haar beschermde oorsprongsbenaming. EUIPO heeft het beroep verworpen. Cava vordert bij het Gerecht EU vernietiging van de beslissing. Het Gerecht EU bevestigt de beoordeling van de kamer van beroep. Het betwiste merk zal door zijn structuur door de consument, ongeacht de talenkennis, worden begrepen als betrekking hebbend op een wijn geproduceerd in Frankrijk, in de regio of plaatsnaam die in het merk staat. Het Gerecht EU wijst de vordering af.

94      In that context, it may be considered that the average wine consumer in the European Union is familiar with wines that come from France, regardless of what languages that consumer speaks, and that in many cases those wines bear a designation containing a name corresponding to a place or location preceded by the words ‘cave’ or ‘château’.

95      For these reasons, it is appropriate to confirm the assessment made by the Board of Appeal that, because of its structure, the contested mark will be understood by the consumer, regardless of his or her language skills, as referring to a wine produced in France, in the region or town whose name appears in that mark, irrespective of whether this wine is sparkling or not, and the association thus made by the consumer between the product and its French origin precludes any possibility of evocation of the PDO ‘CAVA’.

96      Accordingly, it is necessary to reject the applicant’s third ground of objection and, having regard to the answer given to the other ground of objections, the second part of the single plea put forward by the applicant. Since both parts of the single plea in law have been rejected, that plea must be declared to be wholly unfounded.

97      Consequently, the present action, which is based on that single plea in law, must itself be dismissed.