Eugenia Montero Padilla v. Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHMI), Case T-255/08, General Court, Second Chamber, Judgment, 22 June 2010

On 12 September 2002, the intervener, José María Padilla Requena, filed an application for registration of a Community trade mark at the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market. The trade mark applied for was the word sign JOSE PADILLA. On 4 November 2003, the applicant, Eugenia Montero Padilla, filed a notice of opposition under Article 42 of Regulation No 40/94 (now Article 41 of Regulation No 207/2009) to registration of the trade mark applied for in respect of the goods and services referred to in paragraph 3 above. The applicant submitted that the name José Padilla constituted an earlier well known trade mark, of which she claimed to be the proprietor, which had therefore be protected, meaning that the application for registration of the word sign JOSE PADILLA as a Community trade mark had to be refused. The intervener contended that the applicant had failed to prove the existence of a registered trade mark, of which she was the proprietor, or of an earlier well known trade mark. The EU General Court agreed with the intervenor, thus dismissing the action of Eugenia Montero Padilla, concluding that the Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHMI) had correctly registered the trademark JOSE' PADILLA.