In Case T-596/10, the General Court rejected the appeal against the contested decision which found there was no likelihood of confusion between the following signs:

EUROBASKET             

Contested CTM   v       Earlier CTM

Firstly, the goods and services in classes 9, 25, 28 and 41 were held to be similar or identical, except for “digital recording supports, such as DVD, CD-CD-Rom”.

Secondly, the signs were found similar from a visual, aural and conceptual point of view. However, the earlier sign and its element ‘basket’ being descriptive for the registered goods, it has a very low distinctive character because it will be perceived automatically as a reference to the famous sports game and to the hoop where players shoot the ball to score which is present at both ends of a basketball court, and thus an indication of the use of the goods. Therefore, since in the contested sign the element ‘euro’ occupies the same importance as the element ‘basket’, there is no risk that the average consumer believes there are from the same family of marks.