In Case T-158/06 Adobe Systems Inc v Office for Harmonisation in the Internal Market, on 23 October, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities emphasised that the fact a mark is registered nationally outside the European Union is no proof of its registrability as a Community trade mark.

Adobe's predecessor in title Macromedia applied to register as a Community trade mark the word FLEX in respect of various computer-related goods and services in Classes 9, 38 and 42. The application was refused on the grounds that the mark was non-distinctive and indeed descriptive. Macromedia appealed and Adobe informed the OHIM of the fact that Macromedia had assigned the mark to it. The Board of Appeal annulled the examiner's decision to refuse registration for 'computer hardware; computer peripherals and data processing equipment' in Class 9 and all the services in Class 38, but dismissed the rest of the appeal. Adobe appealed.

The Court of First Instance dismissed the appeal, since the Board of Appeal had correctly found on the evidence that the word ‘flex’ was the name of a real-time computing language. The existence of national registrations of the same word in the United States and Canada was not conclusive, since Adobe did not explain what the standards for the assessment of the marks were in those countries with regard to absolute grounds for refusal.