Edwin Co. Ltd v. Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (OHIM) and Elio Fiorucci, case C 263/09 P, Court of Justice of the European Union (Grand Chamber), Judgment, 5 July 2011

Fiorucci SpA, a company governed by Italian law set up by Mr Fiorucci, a fashion designer who had achieved certain renown in Italy during the 1970s, sold to the appellant Edwin Co. Ltd on 21 December 1990 the entirety of its ‘creative assets’, including all the trade marks which it owned, among which were numerous marks containing the element ‘FIORUCCI’. On 6 April 1999, the ce for Harmonisation in the Internal Market (Trade Marks and Designs) (Ohim) registered the word mark ELIO FIORUCCI for a series of goods. By decision of 23 December 2004, the Cancellation Division of OHIM allowed the application for a declaration of invalidity, on the grounds, first, that, according to Article 8(3) of the CPI, Mr Fiorucci’s consent was required for the registration of his name as a Community trade mark and, second, that no such consent had been given. By its appeal, Edwin Co. Ltd seeks to have set aside the judgment of the Court of First Instance of the European Communities by which that Court upheld in part the action brought by Mr Fiorucci.