The Court of First Instance of the European Communities (CFI) today dismissed the appeal in Case T‑246/06) Redcats SA v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, Manuel Revert & Cía, SA. In short, Redcats applied to register as a Community trade mark in various classes the word REVERIE. Manuel Revert opposed, alleging a likelihood of confusion with its earlier Community trade mark for the word REVERT and a lion emblem similar to that portrayed here. In December 2004 the Opposition Division of OHIM upheld the opposition so far as it related to the ‘sheets, blankets, duvets, pillowcases’ included in Class 24. It took the view that those goods were either identical or highly similar to the goods covered by the earlier mark which fell within the same class and that there was a certain visual and phonetic similarity between the signs at issue. In July 2006 the Board of Appeal here dismissed Redcats' appeal, so Redcats appealed further to the CFI.

Dismissing the appeal, the CFI held that the respective marks were both visually and phonetically similar and that -- at least in Germany, Austria and Spain -- there was a likelihood of confusion of the relevant consumer.