Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak represented the firm Cinkciarz.pl sp. z o.o. before the General Court of the European Union in the matter of an appeal against a decision of the European Union Intellectual Property Office (EUIPO) which refused registration of the EU trademark consisting of the symbols “€” and “$” within two decorative round shapes.
In 2015 the company Cinkciarz.pl applied to EUIPO for registration of the above-mentioned EU trademark for a range of goods and services, including for computer software, publication services, in particular currency exchange services. EUIPO refused to register the above marking for reason of its descriptive character and the lack of distinguishing capacity. The refusal was upheld by the EUIPO Board of Appeal. Sołtysiński Kawecki & Szlęzak, on behalf of Cinkciarz.pl, applied to the General Court to declare the decision of the EUIPO Board of Appeal invalid.
Following a hearing, in the judgment announced on 8 March 2018, the General Court annulled the decision of the EUIPO Board of Appeal. The Court pointed out that the Board carried out an analysis of the descriptive character of the examined marking without referring separately to each and every commodity and service marked with it and concentrated mainly on goods and services related to currency exchange. Independently of this, the Court pointed out that even in relation to goods and services connected with currency exchange, the Office did not show in the appealed decision why this trademark will allow the pertinent group of customers to immediately perceive the description of service in that trademark. In the opinion of the Court, the appealed decision did not therefore contain an appropriate reasoning either with regard to the pre-requisite on description or to the distinguishing capacity of the filed trademark.
The company Cinkciarz.pl is represented in this case by Dr hab. Ewa Skrzydło-Tefelska (Partner) and Karol Gajek (Senior Counsel), who prepared the complaint against the decision of the Board of Appeal and who were the attorneys for Cinkciarz.pl at the hearing before the General Court of the European Union in Luxembourg.