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In brief: Court of Justice rules that IP Translator does not have retroactive effect (Brandconcern BV v EUIPO)

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Published on: 17 February 2017

Published by a LexisNexis IP expert

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Original news
What should IP & IT lawyers take note of?
What was this case about?
What did the court decide?

Article summary

IP & IT analysis: In the case of Brandconcern v EUIPO, the Court of Justice has held, in effect, that its judgment in Chartered Institute of Patent Attorneys (also known as IP Translator) on 19 June 2012 was not retroactive. It only applied to pending and future applications and not trade marks already registered. Accordingly, where a trade mark registered before that date specifies the goods or service by reference to Nice Agreement class headings, it is taken to refer to all the goods or services covered by that class at the relevant time and the assessment of genuine use of the mark will be conducted on that basis.

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